The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (16 page)

Maddox shook his head. If Villars had given Galyan the code sequence, the man had effective control of the starship. If they marched to the disruptor chamber in space marine armor, Villars might order Galyan to self-destruct the starship.

“We can’t just sit here,” Meta said.

Villars wasn’t Ludendorff. Maddox knew he had to key in on that. Then it struck him what he had to do. The captain climbed to his feet.

“Galyan,” the captain said, “tell Villars I’m coming.”

“Are you indeed?” the AI asked.

Maddox grabbed one of Meta’s hands, pulling her with him as he started walking toward the disruptor cannon. “I’m going to dig him out of there one way or another.”

“Villars will want to know that. Give me a moment.” Galyan vanished.

Maddox spun on Meta. “Listen carefully,” he whispered. “I’m going to keep Villars occupied. While I do, this is what I want you to do.” Maddox told her as quickly as he could. Then he sent Meta on her way, as he continued toward the disruptor cannon’s control chamber.

-16-

Victory’s
neutron beam poured destructive force against a drone’s shield. The neutron cannon lacked the disruptor’s power, but it slowly battered the drone’s deflectors into the darker colors. Unfortunately, despite Valerie’s best efforts, the starship’s shield neared collapse.

“This is ridiculous,” the lieutenant said in frustration.

“I agree,” Keith said. “Hang on.”

“What?” Valerie asked.

“I don’t mean that literally,” the ace said. “It’s time to shove our ray down their throats.”

“You can’t rattle the enemy with a bold attack,” Valerie said. “They’re drones, with Builder AIs, I suppose.”

“Rattling them isn’t my intention. The closer we are to them, the stronger the neutron beam’s power becomes. Staying at this midrange is only helping them.”

“Their rays will break through our shield if you charge them,” Valerie said.

“That’s why we have collapsium armor, love.”

“No,” Valerie said. “Thanks to the magnetic storm, we lack a few armor plates. The drones are sure to aim where there’s no armor.”

Keith paused. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Let’s take a leaf from the New Men,” Valerie said. “Do you notice the bigger asteroid over there?” she asked, using a glow to highlight it on the main screen.

“Say no more,” Keith said. “I’m reading your mind.”

The mighty starship tilted hard as the gravity dampeners strained.
Victory
swerved for the asteroid as the red beams turned the vessel’s shield black.

“Thirty seconds until shield collapse,” Valerie said. “I can’t give you any longer than that.”

“I won’t need any more.” Keith fingers played upon the piloting board like a master pianist.

“Twenty seconds,” the lieutenant said.

“Come on,” Keith said between gritted teeth. He slapped a control. Gravity shoved him hard against his seat as he overstrained the dampeners. He was pushing the starship. He hoped everyone had strapped in.

“Ten seconds,” Valerie said.

“I’m reversing thrust,” the ace said. “This could get rough.”

It did. The gravity dampeners howled. The bridge shook with strain. With the grace of a ballerina, the huge starship slid behind an asteroid only a little larger than it was. The vessel came to a dead stop behind tens of thousands of tons of granite shielding. The drones no longer had a direct-line-sight on
Victory
. That allowed the lieutenant to begin an emergency shield-bleeding operation to bring the deflectors back from critical.

“I’m launching a probe,” Valerie said. They couldn’t see the drones anymore because the asteroid was in the way. Ten seconds passed. “I’m bringing the probe’s data onto the main screen.”

Keith looked up with interest. He expected to see the drones sneaking up on their asteroid. Instead, each of the drones aimed at the professor’s asteroid.

The ace swore, staring at Valerie.

“You were right about their wanting to attack the asteroid base,” the lieutenant said.

“I usually am,” Keith said, “although this time, I’d like to be wrong.”

Valerie concentrated on the shield, trying to speed the energy bleeding process. But after a certain point, it was simply a matter of enough elapsed time to bring the shield back.

“We have to attack the drones,” Keith said. “We can’t let them kill the professor.”

“I think you’re right,” the lieutenant said.

“If we had the disruptor cannon…” Keith said, his gaze falling on the sergeant.

Riker held the ace’s scrutiny without flinching. The sergeant wasn’t going to risk his life on a thirty percent chance of success to get Villars out of the disruptor control chamber.

“Well…” Keith said. “We don’t have the disruptor right now, do we?”

“We do have collapsium armor as you pointed out,” Valerie said.

“Armor with missing plates,” the ace said.

“Keep jigging as we attack. Try to throw off their aim at the exact soft points.”

“Aye,” Keith said. “I can’t think of anything better. Ready?”

“As I’m ever going to be,” Valerie said.

“Here we go,” Keith said.

Tapping the panel, the ace slid the vessel sideways just a little. He caused
Victory
to act like a sniper behind a bulwark. From the new location at the side of the asteroid, the neutron cannon could fire at one drone but not the others. That meant two enemy drones wouldn’t be able to hit
Victory
from their present location.

Keith laughed as he targeted the silver object. The neutron beam lanced across the distance, striking the shield of a previously un-hit drone.

Instead of maneuvering to fire back at its tormentor, the drone ignored the starship’s neutron ray. The other two also ignored
Victory
.

“This is perfect,” Valerie said. “I think we’re going to win this one.”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, the targeted drone’s shield went from red to brown. At the same time, the drone accelerated. The thrust coming from its engine port lengthened a considerable degree.

“What’s it doing?” Riker asked.

“Looks to me as if the drone plans to ram the asteroid,” Keith said. He slapped the panel in frustration. “I need more power. I need the disruptor.”

The neutron beam darkened the enemy shield. Then the drone reached the professor’s asteroid, taking it out of the line-of-sight of its fellow attackers. As the drone smashed against the granite surface, it exploded in a nova-blinding flash. The drone became an atomic fireball then ceased to exist. The terrible force blew away granite, causing the rest of the rocky object to shake violently. Gigantic cracks appeared in the surface, showing an interior light. Amazingly, atmospheric vapor hissed up between the asteroid’s zigzag lines.

The remaining two drones had escaped the majority of the blast, although their shields absorbed what did reach them. They beamed between the cracks as if they could widen the openings.

“With one gone, the odds have turned in our favor,” Keith said.

Tapping the controls, the ace brought the starship out from behind its asteroid. Expelling masses of energy from the engine ports, the ace attempted to build up velocity fast. All the while, the neutron beam struck the next drone, trying to beat down its shield.

Unfortunately, the targeted drone did the same thing the first one had. As its shield reached critical, the drone drove into the professor’s asteroid, out of the line-of-sight of its fellow attacker, and exploded.

This time,
Victory
didn’t have the shielding meteor-mass to run interference for it. The force of the thermonuclear explosion reached the starship’s weakened shield and caused a collapse, with the rest of the radiation and heat washing against the collapsium armor.

Valerie’s board began to beep wildly.

Keith glanced at her.

“Parts of the ship are getting hit with radiation,” the lieutenant said. “Some of us will have to take treatments when this is over.”

“How long until you can bring the shield back up?”

“A half-hour if I’m lucky,” Valerie said.

Keith bared his teeth in frustration. The starship couldn’t take another of those explosions. He backed the vessel away from the remaining drone, heading for the safety of the shielding asteroid.

As
Victory
retreated, the last drone beamed Ludendorff’s asteroid. It was like a cat at a mouse hole, furiously determined to win its rodent. With relentless vehemence, the red ray stabbed into the widening cracks. It seemed as if the drone hunted for the professor.

***

Maddox stood in the corridor before the control room hatch. He gripped his long-barreled gun. On the other side of the door, Villars waited with a slarn rifle.

From time to time, the corridor shuddered. Once, motion caused Maddox to stumble forward. Then, a shock caused the captain to go to one knee. After regaining his balance, Maddox backed up, with his gun trained on the hatch.

Finally, Galyan appeared before him. “Why aren’t you entering the chamber?” the AI asked.

“I don’t want to die,” Maddox said.

Galyan stood motionless for a moment, finally saying, “Your answer meets the condition Villars gave me concerning you. I am to relay a message.”

“Go ahead.”

“He told me to tell you that he is better than you. There is no way you can defeat him in this kind of conflict.”

Maddox forced himself to laugh. “You tell him I’m going to use his own knife on him and skin his hide. The professor is gone, so now’s my chance.”

“You have become bloodthirsty,” Galyan noted.

“That’s right,” Maddox said. “Villars threatened my woman.”

Galyan disappeared, no doubt to report the exchange to the slarn hunter.

Is Meta ready?
Maddox wondered.
If not, none of this is going to work
.

***

Meta flexed her power gloves. Beside her, Dana fitted the space marine helmet onto the exo-skeleton suit.

“Have you used one of these before?” Dana asked.

“A few times,” Meta said. “I don’t have a professional’s skill, but I should be able to walk down the halls in this without crashing into everything.”

Dana checked a chronometer. “We’re almost out of time.”

“Where’s the gyro switch?” Meta muttered to herself. “Oh, here it is. This must be a newer model than the one I used before.”

The Rouen Colony assassin wore one of the extra space marine suits Star Watch had put aboard
Victory
many months ago in the Oort cloud in the Solar System. This was Maddox’s off-the-cuff idea, and it was a good one.

With the suit’s motors purring, Meta
clanked
down the corridor. The trick was in idling just right. Otherwise, she might use the exo-power wrong and leap up against the ceiling.

Dana followed behind her with a specialty tool kit.

When Maddox had first explained the idea, Meta wondered why she wasn’t supposed to go to the disruptor control room and burst through, taking down the slarn hunter.

Maddox had explained it quickly. One, Villars might have monofilament wire able to breach the space marine armor. The wire could be crisscrossed in there like a spider’s web. Trust Maddox to think ahead like that. Villars was a cunning bastard, liking to draw others into an ambush. So, they would end-run the hunter. That’s why Meta had woken up Dana.

“We’re almost there,” Meta said.

Dana didn’t respond.

Meta clanked around a corner and came to the hatch that protected the AI’s core chamber. It was time to try to take out the backdoor. Ludendorff was gone, and Villars might not think of this in time.

“Ready?” Meta asked.

“What are you going to do?”

“Watch,” Meta said. She charged, building up speed. This was no time for finesse. She used her body armor like a projectile, slamming against the reinforced hatch, caroming off it.

Meta found herself on the floor. The absorbers had taken the shock. Climbing to her feet, she continued to assault the hatch, battering it down as if she was an elemental force of nature.

***

The metallic hammering sounds reverberated throughout the halls, reaching Maddox.

It’s time
, he realized.

Maddox marched toward the disruptor cannon hatch. A second later, Galyan appeared beside him.

“Not now,” Maddox said. “I’m busy.” He ran at the hatch.

The AI disappeared, no doubt to warn Villars.

With his hand on the wheel, Maddox waited. He wanted to stretch this out as long as he could. The seconds ticked by.

Galyan reappeared.

Maddox turned the wheel and began opening the hatch.

The AI disappeared.

Two seconds after Maddox opened the hatch, shots rang out from the chamber. Bullets whizzed past the captain as he stayed out of the line-of-sight behind the opened hatch.

More precious seconds ticked past.

Once again, Galyan appeared in the corridor, no doubt to see what the problem was.

Maddox slammed the hatch shut, dropped to his stomach and slithered away, keeping his pistol aimed at the entrance.

“What are you doing?” Galyan asked.

“Tricking the slarn hunter,” Maddox said.

“I do not understand.”

“I’m making him nervous,” Maddox said. “Soon, he’ll open the door to investigate. When he does, I’ll shoot him.”

“Ah, clever, clever,” Galyan said. “Villars would want to know that.” The AI disappeared.

Maddox scrambled to his feet, returning to the hatch, with his free hand once more on the wheel.

Galyan dutifully reappeared. “He will not—” The AI stopped talking and looked around, spotting the captain by the wheel. “Captain, I have just realized something.”