Vaughn Heppner: The Lost Starship

Squinting, Maddox continued to stare at the starship model.

“Despite your youth, I expect much more from you, Captain,” she said.

Maddox appeared not to hear.

“The part I don’t understand,” the brigadier added, “is how you managed to fend off Nerva’s attacks. I watched a rerun of the duel. Your sergeant’s bionic eye under his patch recorded everything. I had a specialist study Nerva’s reaction times. In his bodysuit, Caius Nerva’s speed was beyond phenomenal. You should not have been able to parry every strike.”

Maddox stopped breathing. He had tested himself because of his possible secret, to see if it could be true. Here was conclusive proof, was it not?

No, no, this cannot be. There must be another explanation . Disguising his unease, Maddox spoke casually, “I practice, ma’am.”

“Please,” she said. “Do not insult my intelligence.”

“I have a dueling bot at home. Extended bouts help keep me toned.”

She studied him.

Inwardly, Maddox readied himself for the accusation. Outwardly, he appeared serene.

She pursed her lips before pressing the control, making the holoimage disappear. Opening her desk, she deposited the unit in a drawer and shut it with a click.

“I imagine Octavian Nerva’s man-hunters will be coming for you as well,” the brigadier said. “You uncovered the fraud and helped to kill his son. His money and influence gives him reach into the Star Watch, perhaps even into Intelligence. You must leave Earth, leave the Solar System.”

“Not without Sergeant Riker,” Maddox said.

“That is out of your hands, I’m afraid.”

Maddox hesitated. He couldn’t believe the brigadier had dropped her inquiry about his ability to defend himself against Caius Nerva. Why had she said anything then? He would need to think about this, but not right now.

“Why did you send the combat cars for me, ma’am?” he asked.

She put both hands on the desk as if to brace herself. A diamond wedding ring glittered on a finger, reminding Maddox that the Iron Lady was married. The ring was her only indulgence, a huge diamond, almost garishly so. Rumor said she was deeply in love with her husband of many years.

“There’s been another attack,” she said.

“You mean the New Men?”

She scraped back her chair as she stood. “I’m attending an emergency meeting of the Admiralty. You will accompany me, Captain, as my aide. I will desire your input afterward.”

“You flatter me, ma’am.”

“I do no such thing,” the brigadier said. “The Commonwealth and the entire breadth of Human Space will require every advantage we can muster in this emergency. Under normal circumstances, I appreciate your unique outlook, and I wish to make use of it. However, this last indulgence with the viper sticks doesn’t do you any credit, Captain.”

He’d stood when she did. “When does the meeting begin?” he asked.

“In fifteen minutes.”

“Will Admiral Fletcher be there?”

“I don’t want you to talk , Captain. Stay in the background. Listen. There’s no need for Fletcher to notice you. You’re in enough trouble as it is. So am I for this mess you’ve given me.”

Maddox said nothing.

“Now, follow me,” she said. “We’re taking a combat car so we can get there on time.”

Captain Maddox mingled among those standing against the back walls of the spacious chamber. He positioned himself in such a way that Admiral Fletcher or one of his people couldn’t spy him.

The massive conference table seated over fifty admirals, commodores, commanders and marine generals. Behind them was twice that number in aides. Everyone here belonged to the Star Watch except for three envoys in the center area.

One of the representatives wore a long robe and a scarlet headscarf, a sheik-superior from the Wahhabi Caliphate, a Muslim star empire. The second envoy, with a great handlebar mustache, represented the Windsor League, a combination of British, Canadian, Australian and Indian colony worlds. The last was a Spacer, a small woman with dark features and short hair. She symbolized the confederation of traders and industrialists with no fixed abode other than their starships.

There were other human worlds without a representative here, but they were in the minority. The men and women seated at the great table had at their disposal—if one counted the envoys—three-quarters of the military strength in what people commonly referred to as the Oikumene or Human Space. Over two centuries since the discovery of the Laumer Drive, mankind had colonized many star systems with an Earth normal or terraformed planet. The number grew if one counted every star system with a mining colony or scientific research center.

The majority of those worlds belonged to the Commonwealth of Planets. Before the advent of the New Men, there had been interplanetary wars, revolutions, coups, rebellions, insurrections, all the old ills of the Pre-Interstellar Age. Before the creation of the Commonwealth of Planets fifty years ago, the nations on Terra had fought each other, often using colony world strength. After a space bombardment with hell-burners smashing Greenland out of existence, the surviving nations started a process that led to the stabilizing Commonwealth, a union of sovereign star systems. A few years later, to give the Commonwealth teeth, they created the Star Watch to patrol the space lanes and protect the frontier worlds.

In all that time, no one had encountered aliens, although explorers had discovered several non-human artifacts. According to the best guesses, the alien societies had guttered out when humanity first mixed tin with copper to produce bronze.

The Oikumene was civilized space. Once one traveled farther, he entered the Beyond. Many voyagers had done just that: explorers, locators, Laumer technicians, bounty hunters in search of lost men or treasures and those wanting to begin again. There were known colonies in the Beyond and those hidden from sight. Fanatics of all stripes had left civilization, traveling in every direction. What grew to fruition on those hidden worlds? A few worriers fretted about it. Most people shrugged.

As a great philosopher had said, “People are most concerned about the pebble in their shoe.” They fretted about their mundane worries instead of troubling themselves on cosmic matters.

In such a manner, events had matured as the Oikumene or Civilized Human Space slowly expanded. Now, the New Men had appeared from the Beyond. Two still shots showed they looked human enough, if a little taller and thinner than the norm, with golden skin. No one who had encountered one of their warships had survived.

Already, Odin, Horace and Parthia had fallen before the New Men. Each was an independent star system. No one had heard a word from those planets since. The Commonwealth had sent envoys. They had yet to return. Maddox knew that several months ago the Star Watch had sent various battle groups to strategic systems, guarding the direct path from those conquered regions into Commonwealth territory.

It was one thing to smash an independent system’s handful of ships. It was another to face the might of the Star Watch.

As an Intelligence officer, Captain Maddox was privy to more knowledge than the average person about the New Men. The golden-skinned invaders had uttered only three words to the Odin fleet before its destruction and to the planet Parthia before its conquest. Presumably, the New Men had said the same thing to the others, too, but no one else had managed to get out a recording of those encounters.

Those three words were, “Surrender or die.”

Had the invaders slain everyone on Odin, Horace and Parthia? That seemed inconceivably barbaric. No one had practiced such planetary genocide before. Yet, what did anyone know about the New Men? Almost nothing. Were they Homo Sapiens or did they simply look humanoid enough to fool everyone? No one had interviewed one of the invaders regarding their philosophy or religion.