Vaughn Heppner - The Lost Starship

Maddox was already moving, diving at her. Grabbing the gun, he twisted. She yelled painfully, her forefinger wretched in the trigger guard. She tried to get up. With a twist, Maddox smashed an elbow against her face, making the back of her head slam against the ground.

Maddox tore the gun from her weakened grip, spun and aimed at the arch opening into the hideaway.

“Meta!” Dana shouted from the ground. “Run!”

At the same instant, Maddox fired, thinking he saw something darker than a shadow as a target.

“You wretch,” Dana said. “If you killed her—”

Since he didn’t hear anything to indicate a hit, Maddox switched tactics. He stood, grabbed Dana by the hair and heaved, lifting her to a standing position. Then he had the gun barrel pressed against her temple, backing away against a tree trunk, using her as a human shield against Meta.

“You’ll never leave this place alive,” Meta said, hidden by the undergrowth. “Let her go.”

“I decline your suggestion,” Maddox shouted. Looking at Keith, Maddox jerked his head to the side.

The pilot scrambled beside him.

“What now?” Dana asked. “Meta will wait all day to get a shot at you.”

“That means we’re at an impasse,” Maddox whispered into Dana’s ear. “I have a gun. Meta has a gun. Out there, the New Man is plotting to destroy us both. If we wait, we both die.”

“Fine,” Dana told him. “We’ll join forces for the moment. What do we need to do?”

“What can we do?” Maddox asked. “My only transport up is the flitter. One of the Saint Petersburg’s people shot the bottom of the craft.”

“That’s easy enough,” Dana said. “We fix the flitter so we can fly out of here.”

“You have such tools?”

“I bet the shuttle does,” Dana said. “We’ll take theirs.”

“That means defeating the New Man and his remaining people. At least one of them has a repeater. It’s possible another shuttle is on its way down.”

As he spoke, Maddox heard quiet footfalls behind his tree. He understood that Dana knew Meta would try to rescue her. The doctor had kept him talking, likely to direct Meta. Now, the cavewoman would try to take him out from behind. This also meant Dana’s agreement to work together was a lie. It was time to change the power dynamics.

First lifting his gun, Maddox brought it down hard against Dana’s skull. It was a risk. He didn’t want to give her a concussion, but he wasn’t sure Keith would be able to guard her. Besides, that would mean giving his gun to Keith, and he needed it against Meta.

Dana crumpled face-first onto the ground.

The movement behind the tree stopped. Maddox waited, listening. Then he heard the faintest of footfalls again. A branch made a soft creak.

Because he didn’t know what else to do, Maddox decided to use the oldest trick in a gunfight. Slipping his force-blade from Dana’s inert form, he tossed it into the heavy undergrowth. He put it where he hoped was in front of Meta.

The handle of the force blade struck leaves. A gunshot rang out—Meta firing at it.

Maddox entered the undergrowth from the other side of the tree. He smashed past leaves and branches, and he reached Meta as she whirled around to face him. Another shot rang out. The round slammed into the soil.

Not wanting to kill her, Maddox refrained from shooting her in the stomach. Instead, he pistol-whipped her, using the bottom of his handle to strike her across the jaw in a right cross.

At that moment, it was obvious that Meta was from a heavy G mining world. The blow would have dropped most people. It barely caused her head to move. She must have strong neck muscles. With his left hand, Maddox punched her bare stomach. It was rock solid, like hitting a tree. She didn’t even grunt.

Meta head-butted him, and if her forehead had connected with his nose, the fight would have been over. Maddox twisted his head aside in time. She staggered against him with her body. He let go of his gun and grabbed the wrist of her gun hand. She brought the flat weapon up anyway, just slower than otherwise. Her strength amazed him.

Fortunately, Maddox knew many forms of unarmed combat. Maybe Meta did too, but the blow to her jaw with the butt of his pistol might have dazed her just a little. With an intricate and fast move, he twisted her arm. He kicked her nearest foot, and he flipped her. She was denser than she looked.

Even so, she struck the ground with her back. Maddox stepped against her side as he held up her arm. He gripped her wrist with both hands and twisted hard enough so she let go of the gun. She groaned too, her first indication of pain.

Before she could recover, Maddox had the flat gun. He aimed it at her as he squatted and retrieved his own. Then he indicated that she proceed him into the hideaway.

Sullenly, rubbing her right wrist, Meta did as ordered, climbing to her feet and pushing through bushes. She gave a small cry of dismay as she saw Dana lying on the ground. The cavewoman knelt beside her, checking to see if the doctor was okay.

“Here,” Maddox said. He gave Keith the flat pistol. “Check the ground back there. I dropped my force blade.”

“Jolly good, Captain,” Keith said. He headed there and paused. “I’m surprised you beat that viper. She’s strong.”

Maddox kept his gaze fixed on Meta.

With a shrug, Keith headed past the tree through the bushes.

On the ground, Dana groaned as her eyelids flickered open. With Meta’s help, she sat up. Maddox noticed Meta squeezing Dana’s arm as if signaling her. The doctor glanced slowly at Meta and then looked up at Maddox.

Pain swam in Dana’s eyes, anger and surprise. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Captain Maddox of Star Watch Intelligence,” he said.

“How did you defeat Meta?” the doctor asked. “You don’t look strong enough.”

“Don’t let that fool you,” Meta said. “He’s tougher than he looks.”

Despite the circumstances, Maddox found the cavewoman’s voice intoxicatingly rich and sweet.

“Interesting,” Dana said.

Maddox frowned. He didn’t like the doctor’s scrutiny. Something about it troubled him.

“You disarmed Meta,” Dana said. “That was a dangerous thing to do. It would have been easier to kill her. Why didn’t you?”

“Killing is distasteful,” Maddox said. “I have no appetite for it, although when the necessity arises, I do what I must.”

“Fair enough,” Dana said. “Here’s another question. What now, Captain?”

Indeed , Maddox thought. He fanned through options. His choices were limited, the situation worse than dire. Doctor Dana Rich did not wish to help him find or enter the sentinel. A New Man prowled nearby with heavily armed crewmembers. Sergeant Riker was dying. The Saint Petersburg waited up there, and orbitals too, with missiles and lasers. To make it even worse, the space beacon would report on Geronimo in twenty-three hours. If nothing else, he needed Doctor Rich’s help to take over the beacon through computer chicanery.

“If you help me,” Maddox said. “The chancellor of the Commonwealth Council will grant you a pardon for your crimes.”

Dana hunched her shoulders.

Maddox waited for her to claim innocence. Most criminals did. It was one of the marks of their mentality: the idea that society or someone in particular had shafted them and thus everything they—the hurt individual—did wasn’t really their fault but someone else’s.

“Will the high and mighty chancellor pardon Meta as well?” Dana asked.

“To be honest,” Maddox said, “I don’t know. We can ask, and I can recommend, but that isn’t a promise.”

“Give me a gun,” Dana said. “Then I’ll know you bargain in good faith.”