The Lost Starship

-23-

Captain Maddox raised his head, realizing his chin had been resting on his chest. He must have fallen asleep as he sat in the pilot’s chair. Then, he recalled why he’d opened his eyes. Doctor Rich had spoken elatedly.

He swiveled around on his seat. Dana and he were the only ones in the control room. Why hadn’t she tried for his gun, seeing as he’d fallen asleep? There were two possibilities. The first, she didn’t think he really slept, or she feared he’d wake up before she could subdue him. The second, she had become so engrossed in her work that she hadn’t noticed him sleeping. He was more inclined toward the second view.

“What is it?” Maddox asked.

Dana didn’t respond. She sat at her station, her fingers flying over the controls. She chortled quietly, almost evilly, to herself.

Maddox stood, approaching her. Still, she didn’t notice him. He had no idea what the screen meant. Lines of code flashed before his eyes.

“Doctor!” he said.

Her shoulders stiffened. She looked up and then back at him.

“What’s happening?” he asked.

“Exactly what you asked for,” she said. “I’m inside the satellite-beacon’s master menu. I’ve just shut down its comm-links.”

Maddox checked a chronometer. In twelve hours, the beacon would have informed the monitor. Dana had worked even faster than he’d expected.

“You did it then?” he asked.

She turned back to her panel and continued to tap.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m guessing you’re going to want the beacon to fire up some drones for us,” Dana said. “We need to knock out the destroyer, right?”

Maddox stepped to Lieutenant Noonan’s station. Valerie was getting some well-deserved rest. At speed, the destroyer was accelerating toward the system’s gas giant in its Jupiter-like orbit. That was nearly eight hundred thousand kilometers away. The Class 3 Laumer-Point was near the gas giant. No doubt, the destroyer raced there to block their exit from the star system.

There were three jump points in this star system: the Class 1 near the chthonian planet, the rock core orbiting closest to the sun. There was the Class 3 by the distant gas giant. And there was an unstable Laumer-Point situated between Loki Prime and the gas giant, about where the Solar System’s asteroid belt would be.

Unstable tramlines were dangerous to use. Sliding down an unstable wormhole was like running between giant, chomping teeth. The tramline could contort, crushing the starship in it. That happened one out of every three to five times, depending on the instability of the tramline. It made using such a route a game of Venusian Roulette.

When the Saint Petersburg first accelerated away from Loki Prime toward the outer system, Maddox had finally felt the situation was safe enough to turn the fusion engines back on. They hadn’t used the regular thrust, but turned on the gravity wave generator—and began recharging the batteries. Just as before, the gravity waves had shaken Geronimo for its short duration, but each time it had given them a little more velocity.

Ensign Maker had complained about the process. The pilot had been right, too. At this rate, it would take the scout weeks of drifting to reach the gas giant and the Class 3 entry point.

In the control room, Maddox grunted.

This time, Dana noticed. “What is it?” she asked.

Pointing at the lieutenant’s view screen, Maddox said, “Archangel has just begun heavy acceleration away from its position near the chthonian planet.”

The massive round starship would take time to build a descent velocity. It was like watching an elephant starting to move, knowing it would trot and then lumber at speed.

Dana got up and checked the screen for herself. The starship had an immensely long exhaust tail, making it easy to spot. She traded glances with Maddox. “Why do you think the monitor is doing that?” she asked.

Maddox checked something on the lieutenant’s board. “Hmm, it’s like I thought. There’s been a lot of radio traffic between the destroyer and the monitor.”

“Do you think they’ve been talking about us?” Dana asked.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe Archangel is coming to help Saint Petersburg search for us,” Dana suggested.

“Seems unlikely they’d leave the Class 1 Laumer-Point unguarded,” Maddox said. “But let’s say it’s true. Why haven’t the one hundred satellite-beacons gone to high alert? If both the monitor and the destroyer are searching for us, that would be the best move.”

Maddox glanced at the screen. One hundred dark, automated satellite-beacons orbited between the chthonian planet and halfway to the gas giant. Maybe a thousand drones orbited in the same zone. The scout passed through a belt of sleeping missiles. At any time, one of them might activate and accelerate at them.

Dana laughed with what sounded like relief.

Maddox frowned at her.

“You’re right,” Dana said. “That’s what the monitor commander would do: put the space beacons onto high alert. Where is Archangel headed?”

Maddox fiddled with the board. “Given their present heading, it looks as if they’re chasing the Saint Petersburg. Seems crazy, though,” he said, “the huge monitor will never catch a sleek runner like the destroyer.”

Dana clapped her hands together. “The New Men on the destroyer must have overplayed their hand. They made the monitor commander suspicious.” She frowned. “That means my computer hacking went for nothing. I’ve been wasting time.”

“You’re jumping to conclusions. We don’t know what’s going on.”

“Now that I’m in the space beacon,” Dana said, “do you want me to—?”

Maddox’s instruments blared a warning.

“What is it?” Dana shouted.

With his guts twisting, Maddox told her, “Archangel must have just sent a high pulse signal. Satellite-beacons are switching to combat alert.”

“So they are joining forces against us,” Dana said.

“I don’t think so.”

“But you just told me that’s what the monitor commander would do if they leagued together.”

“You’re right. I said that,” Maddox admitted. “But the beacons nearest Loki Prime should have gone onto combat alert then. That was our last known position, right? That’s not happening. Instead, the automated satellites nearest the Saint Petersburg are switching to a combat setting. Why just there, I wonder?”

“Oh. Yes. That is different.”

Maddox checked for further data before glancing at Doctor Rich. “The monitor’s commander must have upped the game. I bet he’s threatening the destroyer with annihilation from the drone-field.”

“That might be less of a threat than you think,” Dana said.

“Why? What haven’t you told me?”

Her dark eyes become hooded. She seemed to be weighing something in her mind. “I suppose you’ll find out sooner or later. The beacons and drones are over fifteen years out of date, at least. I suspect the computer programs are pretty ancient too.”

“Okay…” he said.

“Hacking into the beacon was child’s play. If I can do it, some genius New Man shouldn’t have any problem neutralizing the minefield.”

“Maybe,” Maddox said. “Old weapons can kill just like new ones. Besides, the fact that the monitor commander is heading for the destroyer shows me the New Men aren’t invincible. They can make mistakes. Remember, we beat them on Loki Prime.”

“We did not,” Dana said. “That’s wishful thinking, something I thought you were above. I’ll have to reevaluate my opinion about you.”

Maddox snorted softly.

Dana turned away from the screen and faced him. “The truth is we barely managed to escape from one New Man and his assault-rifle ally.”

“That’s what I just said,” Maddox told her. “We beat them.”

“Beating them means we would have captured the invader for interrogation.”

“Wrong,” Maddox said. “He attempted to impose his will on us. We thwarted his will and imposed our own.”

“You mean your will, which was capturing me.”

“Freeing you,” Maddox said. “I freed you from captivity.”

“Mister,” Dana asked, “do you take me for an idiot?”

“The opposite,” Maddox said. “Your quick suppression of the space beacon proves we need you.”

“As I told you,” Dana said. “The auto-beacon and its program were old. Your pilot probably could have done it if he put his mind to it.” She yawned. “I’m exhausted. I’ve been working on this ever since we boarded. The stims I took are finally wearing off. I need sleep.”

Maddox took out his control unit out. “Very well. I’ll escort you to your quarters.”

Dana waited a half-beat before nodding. Then she headed for the hatch and Maddox followed.

He knew she plotted against them. It was obvious, and she was cunning, maybe more than he was. How could he convince her to join the mission? Without her knowledge and hacking skills, they were never going to gain entrance into the alien sentinel. There had to be a way to sway her, but he was at a loss as to what it might be.

Space battles within a star system’s vast expanse were often long-term affairs that went on for days instead of hours. AIs, computers and combat techs measured velocities, acceleration rates, beam ranges, cones of firing probabilities and braking speeds. The situation often became a chess game between professionals. Many times, the losing crew knew hours ahead of time that they were going to die as death remorselessly closed in on them.

As Captain Maddox, the lieutenant and the ensign watched from the control room—with the scout inching toward its Laumer-Point near the gas giant—they had a front row seat to the engagement between the monitor and the destroyer.

Archangel’s commander had put the satellite-beacons on high alert. The next step would be targeting the destroyer with the nearest drones. It seemed that Archangel’s commander would have to know without a doubt that the destroyer had turned rogue before actively trying to annihilate the vessel. That decision wouldn’t be made lightly.

Maddox dearly wanted to know what the monitor’s commander knew. He would have to break radio silence and come into the open to ask, though. It was very probable the monitor commander would not believe him. The greater mission was too important for Maddox to risk coming out of the dark.

“Why is the destroyer still heading for our jump-point near the gas giant?” Valerie asked. The lieutenant had taken a long-deserved nap and appeared refreshed. “The Saint Petersburg can’t use that wormhole.”

Maddox had been wondering the same thing. Given the monitor’s new actions, the destroyer should have already headed for a different Laumer-Point to attempt to escape the star system. He didn’t like the mystery.

“What do your sensors show?” Maddox asked.

“Nothing extraordinary,” Valerie said. “Ah. The monitor is sending a message to Saint Petersburg.”

“Isn’t there any way we can tap into it?” Keith asked. He’d napped too. It had made his eyes puffier and him crankier.

Neither Maddox nor Valerie answered the ensign.

“Well?” Keith asked. “Can’t we listen in?”

“Not unless we want to use active systems,” Maddox told him. “That would probably give us away. It’s better for us to remain hidden.”

“Jolly good,” Keith said shortly, in a grumpy voice. He stood. “I’m hungry. Anyone care to join me?”

Maddox’s stomach grumbled. He could use a break. Besides, a few minutes away couldn’t hurt. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s go.”

They exited the control room and moved down the corridor to the galley, a small area with a table and benches. Maddox picked a freeze-dried packet of tuna salad. Keith picked hamburger patties with broccoli.

They used a microwave to cook each. Halfway through the meal, Valerie spoke through the intercom.

“You ought to get back here, Captain. Things have just turned interesting.”

Grabbing the plastic, Maddox hurried to the control room, wolfing down the rest of the tuna salad as he went. He hadn’t realized until he started eating just how hungry he’d been.

As he entered the chamber, Valerie said, “Archangel turned the satellite-beacons hot. Drones are coming alive out there. They’re easy to spot with their exhausts pouring behind them.”

Maddox shoveled the last bite into his mouth, tossing the plastic into a disposal unit. As he chewed, he sat down at his station.

“No!” Valerie said, watching her board. “I can’t believe this.”

“What’s happening?” Maddox asked.

“The destroyer—it has sent a message of its own to the space beacons near Archangel. It’s turned those drones against the monitor. Captain, it looks as if the New Men have hacked the system better than Dana could have done.”

Maddox went cold inside, and the tuna salad in his stomach felt as if it turned to lead. Here was another example of the enemy’s superiority.

They watched, and the minutes stretched into an hour, then three hours.

The various drones kept accelerating at their targets—it took time to move those distances. Space battles were long-term affairs. Many drones raced at Archangel, just as many sped at Saint Petersburg. Then drones began to detonate, even though they were far from their respective targets. Soon, everywhere throughout the Loki System, drone warheads bloomed into incandescent brilliance.

“What’s going on, love?” Keith asked Valerie.

“If I had to guess,” the lieutenant said, “both the monitor and the destroyer have sent self-destruct messages to the drones. They leveled the playing field. They also turned this place into a radioactive wasteland with EMP pulses everywhere.”

Maddox sat up. “That’s blinding sensors, yes?”

“Of course,” Valerie said. “It’s difficult to look through nuclear fireballs or the intense radiation they spew in all directions. It’s like throwing down a stellar blanket, at least until the radiation dies down.”

“Ensign,” Maddox said. “Get ready to engage the fusion thrusters.”

Valerie nodded sagely. “They’ve given us temporary cover,” she said. “For a little while at least, it will be hard to see much of anything. I like your idea, Captain.”

“Engage,” said Maddox.

Keith tapped the controls, and the Geronimo built up velocity.

Twenty-four hours later, the situation had drastically changed for the better for Geronimo.

“We’re getting out of here,” Maddox told Valerie and Keith.

He’d let Dana and Meta stew in their respective quarters. They called when they needed to use the facilities. Maddox always stood guard at those times. Sergeant Riker was still in medical. Dana had checked him three different times. Maddox had stood guard then, too.

“Like I told you,” Dana had said about Riker, “those Loki germs are tough. It was touch and go there for a while.”

“What?” Maddox asked. He hadn’t known that.

“I didn’t want to tell you. Figured you would think I’m gaming things. Anyway, your man is going to pull through. Leave him here another three days, though.”

As Maddox sat in the control room, he grinned as he thought about their situation.

Saint Petersburg moved like a comet for the unstable Laumer-Point. It looked as if the New Man wanted to gamble with a bad wormhole. That was fine with Maddox. Archangel headed for exactly the same point. Four heavy missiles lead the way, barreling at extreme velocity for the destroyer.

“Want to place bets if the destroyer makes it or not?” Keith asked.

“Oh,” Maddox said. “They’ll make it to the Laumer-Point. Whether they survive the jump or not is the question.”

“Those missiles say otherwise,” Keith told him.

“Seemingly,” Maddox said, “seemingly. I think the New Man will have an ace or two to pull out of his sleeve.”

Valerie looked up from her instrument panel. She’d been tapping it for some time. “I have news I don’t think you’re going to like.”

Maddox swiveled around to face her.

“The unstable Laumer-Point will bring the Saint Petersburg to Sigma Gamma Seven,” Valerie said.

Maddox shrugged. “Is that supposed to be significant?”

“I think so,” Valerie said. “That’s two jumps away from where our Class 3 tramline will bring us.”

“We’ll be gone from there before they show up,” Maddox said.

“Good,” she said.

Maddox sat back, thinking about that. Could the New Man over there know what Valerie had just told him about the various routes? Yes, of course, he did. Was the New Man trying to use the Saint Petersburg’s speed against the Geronimo? He would race the destroyer through jump routes, trying to work to the system they would enter from Loki. Hmm… The destroyer had beaten them to the Loki System.

“Speed,” Maddox muttered. “Ensign, we’re going to accelerate.”

“That could blow our cloak,” Valerie said. “The EMP pulses have long ago faded. We’d be in the open.”

“Look at the ranges between us and the two starships,” Maddox said, shaking his head. “Their beams can’t possibly reach us at these distances. We’re hundreds of millions kilometers too far. No missiles will have time to accelerate fast enough before we’re gone. If the destroyer is trying to catch us later by speeding to the other Laumer-Points, we need to use speed now and outdistance them.”

“I don’t like it,” Valerie said.

“I’m open to your reasons as to why not,” Maddox said.

Lieutenant Noonan looked uncomfortable. “Sir, the New Men outfought von Gunther’s battle group in the Pan System.”

“The destroyer lacks those advanced weapons.”

“I wasn’t finished, sir,” Valerie said. “They also outthought us. I’m wondering if the New Man is doing that here.”

“No,” Maddox said. “We outthought him.”

“Don’t you think he’s going to know our reaction to his using the unstable Laumer-Point?”

“He has to use that entry point,” Maddox said. “There’s no other way for him to escape the monitor.”

“Maybe he could outmaneuver the monitor and race to the Class 1 point near the chthonian planet near the star,” Keith said, chiming in.

“If that’s a wiser choice,” Maddox said, “he would already be doing it. No. This time, I think we’re granting them too much cunning. Ensign, head for our Laumer-Point at maximum acceleration. We want to leave the Loki System as fast as possible.”

Keith glanced at Valerie. Then he said, “Aye-aye, Captain, sir. I’m engaging thrusters—now.”

The Saint Petersburg must have laid invisible mines behind itself as it braked for the unstable Laumer-Point. As the heavy missiles neared, the mines began to detonate, revealing themselves and annihilating two of the monitor’s missiles. Saint Petersburg’s counter-rockets took care of the third missile, while the destroyer’s lasers demolished the last one.

“Those are new types of mines I haven’t seen before,” Valerie said. “I wonder if they’re a New Man invention.”

The Geronimo had accelerated for a time and now braked hard. They neared the Class 3 tramline. The other two spaceships were hundreds of millions of kilometers away.

“That’s a good question,” Maddox said. Suddenly, a queasy feeling bit into him. “Lieutenant, start searching this area for cloaked mines.”

“Sir?” Valerie asked.

“The Saint Petersburg spent some time here,” Maddox said. “I wondered about that before. Could they have been carefully placing such mines to catch us before we leave?”

For the next twenty minutes, Lieutenant Noonan searched diligently. Finally she announced, “I think we’re safe, sir.

It took another half hour until they reached the Laumer-Point.

Maddox opened inter-ship channels. “We did it. We’re about to leave the Loki System. Get ready to jump.”

Ensign Maker maneuvered the scout for the entry point. “Engaging the Laumer Drive,” he said.

A loud whine started, and the Laumer-Point became visible to their instruments. The scout headed for the wormhole.

At the same time, a hidden device flared with high acceleration. Had it detected the Laumer Drive? Had it waited until the last possible moment? Whatever the truth, the device rapidly closed with Geronimo.

“Sir,” Valerie said, “I’m detecting a fast approaching object.”

The object exploded with the same power as the mines that had destroyed several heavy missiles earlier.

The scout buckled as interior lights began to flash. Bulkheads groaned. Then the stricken SWS Scout Geronimo entered the Laumer-Point, barreling down the wormhole. It was anyone’s guess as to whether the ship would survive the stresses of jump to reach the exit point intact.