The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) (35 page)

“You saw the stealth missiles and decided to flee without asking me,” Maddox said. “Does that clarify the situation well enough?” They’d been talking about the combat circumstances for a few minutes already.

Valerie kept her gaze downcast, but Maddox wasn’t fooled. She was anything but contrite. Her jaw muscles were quivering as she clenched her teeth. With the lieutenant, that was a sure sign of agitation. What the captain didn’t know was her reason.

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said. “That clarifies it.”

Maddox recalled the bump as Meta and he had carried Per Lomax to medical. That must have been
Victory
shifting from deceleration back to acceleration. That meant Valerie had been acting on her own initiative for longer than he’d realized. She could have called him at any time, but had decided not to. Why would that be? What didn’t he understand?

“Did Galyan override you?” Maddox asked.

Valerie shook her head.

“What happened then?” Maddox asked.

“I talked him into fleeing,” Valerie said.

“Against my direct order to attack the two star cruisers?”

Valerie looked up. “It was the wrong order.
Victory
is too important to gamble with now.”

“I appreciate that is your opinion, Lieutenant. But you—”

“Why did you do that?” Valerie asked.

Maddox raised an eyebrow. “Do what?”

“Why did you talk the Lord High Admiral into demoting me back to lieutenant?”

“Is that what this is about?” he asked.

Valerie’s lips thinned as she stared into Maddox’s eyes.

“Fair enough,” Maddox said.
Something is going on here that I don’t understand. Valerie is a rules stickler. She’s not one to rebel against the chain of command. Yet she just did
.

“I asked Cook to do that because I didn’t want any misunderstanding between us,” Maddox said. “I’m not trained as a starship captain. You are. If we held the same rank, I wondered if that would hurt your efficiency, if you would attempt to second-guess me. I can see through this incident that I did the right thing.”

“Is that what you believe, sir?”

“I’m not in the habit of making up reasons.”

Valerie licked her lips. “You’re an Intelligence officer first. Your kind
loves
making up reasons in order to slide through whatever they want to do.”

Maddox stared at her, and he let the full force of his personality shine through. “What is this about?”

Valerie held his gaze for several seconds. Then, she looked down, and that seemed to make her angry. She gestured sharply.

“I know how to command a starship,” Valerie said.

Maddox waited, wondering if this
problem
had been festering for some time.

“Instead of getting a line command,” Valerie said, “what happened to me? I got stuck on the Lord High Admiral’s Strategy Council.”

“There are many Star Watch officers who would give their right arm for such a posting.”

“Well, I’m not one of them.”

“Cook has honored you,” Maddox said.

“He knows I want an independent command. Yet—” Valerie hesitated.

“Yes?” Maddox asked.

“I don’t know,” Valerie mumbled.

I’m close to getting to the truth. She needs a nudge, but I’m not sure which way
.

“Valerie,” Maddox said, “it could be that Lord High Admiral Cook knows exactly what he’s doing.”

She looked up at him.

“I need an excellent executive officer,” Maddox said. “One who knows how to run a starship. As you pointed out, my primary training is in Intelligence. Yet, I’m commanding the most powerful starship in our arm of the galaxy. Cook knows I need assistance, an executive who can help me during combat and other stressful situations.”

“You’re a sharp operator, sir. I don’t think you need much help with anything.”

“
Much
?” Maddox asked.

Once more, Valerie’s jaw muscles tightened and she began shaking her head. “You don’t understand. I’ve trained all my life for this. I’ve worked harder than anyone can imagine. Now…now the Lord High Admiral has put me in a terrible situation with an almost insurmountable temptation in front of me.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Maddox said.

Valerie slapped her open palms onto the table. Her mouth opened and moved, but no words came out. The lieutenant hung her head.

Maddox waited. This was it. He was about to hear the truth, finally.

“Sir,” Valerie said, without looking up. “I know you’re the best person for the job. The Lord High Admiral knows that too. But there is a problem of trust, your origins specifically.”

Maddox felt his chest go cold.

“I have secret orders, sir, and they’ve been killing me. Every night when I lay down, I wonder if I have the courage to use them. I wonder if in using them, I will destroy your career. I don’t want to do that. I’ve learned to like you, even if I don’t always approve of your ways. I want to open the secret orders and take over command of the ship so badly that it’s giving me an ulcer.”

Maddox waited, knowing there was more.

Valerie frowned and shook her head again. “Yet I wonder if that’s not the greatest mistake of all. You have the makings of a sterling starship captain. I can see it. I see you improving all the time. I wonder…I wonder if the best use of
my
talents is in helping you achieve that. I believe I have many of those qualities myself, but not like you do, sir. Maybe the best way I can serve Star Watch and…”

Valerie’s voice lowered to a whisper. “Maybe the best way I could serve my family—” she licked her lips. “We’re a family, sir. Do you realize that?”

The idea shocked Maddox. He’d been adopted and had known peace for a time as a child. Yet, he had never belonged and had known that in his heart. Once he’d learned the truth about his mother… A family, the team of Meta, Riker, Keith, Dana and Valerie… Could the lieutenant be right about her idea? It was far outside his emotional thinking. He was a lone wolf, had been for so long now.

Valerie looked up.

Maddox turned away, embarrassed. He didn’t know what to say.

“I’m going to give you this,” Valerie said. “If you think I should use it, you can give it back to me. Otherwise, I don’t want it anymore. I can’t take the temptation, the pressure. I’d rather devote all my efforts to…to beating the enemy.”

The lieutenant slid a slim folder across the table to him. It had a Star Watch stamp on it.

“These are the secret orders, sir. They contain my right to replace you as captain of the ship.”

Maddox felt a stab in his heart. The Lord High Admiral hadn’t completely trusted him. Out of the corner of his eye, Maddox glanced at the folder. In the end, he was still the outsider.

Maybe Valerie saw him scowl. Maddox stiffened a moment later. The lieutenant put a hand over the one he had on the table.

“We’re a family, sir,” Valerie said. “You’re the captain.
Victory
had to flee once those missiles came. I did what I thought was right, but I did it as your executive officer. I did not do it to usurp your authority.”

Maddox nodded. “I accept that.”

Removing her hand from his, Valerie sat up, waiting.

Maddox’s frown deepened. He felt as if he’d been stabbed in the heart. The Lord High Admiral—

The captain looked at Valerie. Maybe he was concentrating on the wrong thing. Here was a good officer, one who had come up the hard way. She trusted him. She was…was
family
.

Valerie is saying she will stick with me through thick and thin
. If so, that meant he wasn’t a lone wolf anymore. He wasn’t the outsider, the half-breed. He belonged.

Maddox stood and held out a hand. Valerie took it, and Captain Maddox helped the lieutenant to her feet.

“We went to Wolf Prime and found the professor,” Maddox said. “We escaped intact from the New Men. Every one of us did his or her part to defeat the enemy assault against the starship. Now, it’s time to race to the Tannish System and make sure the Fifth Fleet gets past the enemy armada.”

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said, with enthusiasm.

Maddox released her hand and turned toward the hatch. As he did, Galyan appeared. The holoimage frowned.

“No, Captain,” Galyan said. “We are not heading to the Tannish System. It is time for Professor Ludendorff to fulfill his bargain to me. I want to know the location of the Swarm homeworld. Then, we must hurry there and obliterate it as they did to my homeworld.”

-35-

Maddox would have liked more time to prepare the professor. Everything seemed to be happening at once. It was maddening.

They had escaped the Wolf System. The starship was fully intact, and they had kept it out of the hands of the New Men. They had enough time to get to the Fifth Fleet, and Ludendorff could begin studying the ancient weapons systems that no one in the Oort cloud had been able to make work.

Unfortunately, Galyan had this fixation on the Swarm. Maddox supposed it made sense. He would have thought an advanced AI would be more logical, not this emotional monomaniac they had to deal with.

The door opened into the conference chamber and Ludendorff walked in.

“Ah, Professor,” Maddox said. “I’m glad you could join us.”

The older man nodded stiffly. It seemed he hadn’t gotten over the manhandling in the shuttle. Ludendorff was proud. The professor had made that abundantly clear.

Behind him, Dana crutched in.

Valerie had gone back to the bridge. Keith slept, and Ludendorff had made it clear he didn’t want Meta in attendance. Riker kept watch on Per Lomax, who remained in a deep sleep in medical. That left the handful of technicians they had taken along with the now deceased space marines and a few archaeologists and slarn trappers from Wolf Prime.

Maddox had told those people to remain in their quarters. Galyan didn’t trust them, probably because their “patterns” weren’t right.

“Professor Ludendorff,” Galyan said. The holoimage stood on the other side of the conference table as the others.

Ludendorff stopped short, and his eyes widened.

It took Maddox a moment to understand why. The professor hadn’t seen the alien holoimage yet. Galyan looked human enough except for the inordinately deep-set eyes and the ropy, dangling arms.

“You’re an Adok,” Ludendorff said.

Maddox sat up in surprise. Could the professor have recognized Galyan’s race?

“A-dok?” the holoimage asked.

“Don’t you know your own species name?” The professor turned to Dana. “You didn’t tell me you had a living Adok. This is incredible.”

“We don’t,” Dana said, unable to contain her grin.

“But—” Ludendorff looked more closely at Galyan. “Ah. You’re a holoimage. Of course, you must be a replica…of whom, might I ask?”

“To save time,” Maddox said, speaking before the AI could. “I’ll give you a rundown on how Driving Force Galyan came to his present status.”

The captain told Ludendorff about deification: the engrams of the last commander of the Adok fleet imprinted on the starship’s AI core.

“That’s clever,” Ludendorff told Galyan. “I’m even more impressed with Adok technology than I was before entering the room.”

“Are you certain about my race name?” Galyan asked.

“Perfectly certain,” Ludendorff said. He pulled a chair out from the conference table and sat down, tilting the chair back as he eyed the holoimage.

Dana sat two chairs down from the professor.

“Adok,” Galyan said, as if tasting the word. “I wish I could tell you I recognize the name, but I don’t.”

“That’s odd,” Ludendorff said.

“Why do you say that?” Galyan asked, sounding miffed.

“I find it even odder that you don’t think it’s odd,” Ludendorff said. “It shows me something is off in your AI core.”

“In what way?” Galyan asked.

“Now,
that
is a good question.” Ludendorff turned to the captain. “Doctor Rich tells me the AI wishes to know more about the Swarm.”

“I want the location of their homeworld,” Galyan said.

“Why is that?” Ludendorff asked.

“They destroyed us,” Galyan said, swinging one of his arms in agitation. “That was a monstrous crime. I wish to find their homeworld and obliterate the Swarm in retaliation.”

Ludendorff tilted his chair even farther back so it looked as if he would topple over backward. He kept himself there with his feet, putting his hands on his chest as he twiddled his thumbs. Settling his chin on his chest, the professor eyed the table.

Everyone waited in silence.

Finally, Galyan stirred. “Well, where is this planet? I have gone to great lengths to retrieve you. I have endured many indignities, and I have suffered having rabble roaming through my corridors. The single reason for this was to gain you. I was assured you would know the answer to my question.”

“If anyone would know,” Ludendorff said, “I’m the person. Your faith in me is well founded. I’m not so sure I have faith in you, though.”

“Clarify your statement,” Galyan said.

“There’s something abnormal in your actions,” Ludendorff said. “I’m trying to perceive exactly what it is. Your desire to find the Swarm homeworld… Surely, the Adoks must have known more about the Swarm than others could now. Your people fought them six thousand years ago. I’ve had to decipher their psychology through cave etchings, fallen implements, the construction pattern of their hive and other clues.”

“What is your point?” Galyan asked. “Are you saying the Swarm are dead?”

“Possibly,” Ludendorff said.

“This is terrible news.”

“Why would it be terrible?” Ludendorff asked. “It would mean the Swarm cannot harm other races. You wish them destroyed, and they are. Your desire has already been fulfilled.”

“I want to be the one who destroys them,” Galyan said.

“Now that’s interesting.”

“You said the Swarm is
possibly
dead. That would imply they could still be alive.”

“True,” Ludendorff said in an offhanded manner.

“Which is it?” Galyan asked.

“Exactly,” Ludendorff said.

“Professor, are you trying to test my patience?”

“Not at all,” Ludendorff said. “Consider. The Swarm did not have a homeworld as you conceive of it. They had an origin point. According to my studies, it appears the Swarm proved ultra-successful in taming their environment. Their problem was hunger. Let me explain. Human population growth slows once the baseline group achieves a certain amount of individual wealth. I don’t believe the same was true for the Swarm. Instead, they increased growth as they gained wealth. Thus, the Swarm devoured their homeworld as a fire consumes its fuel, leaving ashes behind. It forced the Swarm to leave their star system in search of more wood.”

“Wood?” Galyan asked.

“Please excuse the analogy,” Ludendorff said. “The Swarm expanded into space in search of other worlds to consume. One branch invaded the Adok star system. You destroyed most of them.”

“I destroyed all of the invaders,” Galyan said. “Otherwise,
Victory
would not have existed.”

“That’s one possibility, I grant you.”

“I am not interested in your theories regarding my holy task,” Galyan said. “I want a target planet. I want to destroy the Swarm. If I must search the galaxy for them, so be it. I accept the task.”

Ludendorff closed his eyes. He might have been trying to feign sleep, except that his thumbs kept twirling. Finally, he opened his eyes.

“Do you realize that if
Victory
attacks a Swarm star system,” Ludendorff said, “you will approach your ancient enemy?”

“I do not care for didactic questions,” Galyan said. “Instead, I want to know your point.”

“The point is your intense desire to find the Swarm and attack them,” Ludendorff said. “It makes me wonder about your last days. Could you describe them to me?”

“Last days in what manner?” Galyan asked.

“The Adok fight against the Swarm invasion, of course.”

The holoimage’s eyelids fluttered. Soon, Galyan spoke solemnly about the battle against the Swarm, the clouds of enemy craft, the viciousness of the assault. During those horrible weeks, he watched enemy vessels destroy one Adok ship after another. He witnessed the planet-busters obliterating his homeworld, so the planet became a vast field of drifting asteroids. Finally, the last Swarm attack-craft launched an assault against
Victory
. Galyan spoke about the conflict inside the corridors where his robots defeated the Swarm soldiers.

After Galyan finished, silence descended upon the conference chamber. Ludendorff put all four chair-legs onto the floor. The old man appeared to be thinking deeply.

“You have a theory, Professor?” Maddox asked.

Ludendorff looked over at the captain and nodded.

Maddox waited.

The professor inhaled, holding his breath for a long moment. Then, Ludendorff began to talk. “I have a theory, as Captain Maddox has rightly divined. The Adoks were a peaceful race. This was my conclusion about them from studying their ancient star system. Now, it has been confirmed.”

“How did you reach your conclusion?” Dana asked.

A smile played on the professor’s lips. “You wouldn’t understand my how. That is both my gift and curse. I see connections that no one else can. It seems so obvious to me that I’m at a loss to explain how I know. That much makes sense to you, yes?”

Dana turned her head and rolled her eyes so the professor couldn’t see her.

Maddox did, and he deciphered the meaning. Dana didn’t care for the professor’s smugness and intellectual arrogance. Maybe that was one of the reasons why she’d mutinied so long ago during Ludendorff’s time in the lost star system.

“Are you saying the Swarm are extinct?” Galyan asked. “I would like a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.”

“I don’t have that kind of answer,” Ludendorff said. “There are no Swarm star systems nearby. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any in the Beyond. Frankly, I think there are.”

“Then we must hunt for them,” Galyan said with finality.

“That is an excellent idea,” Ludendorff said. “Particularly for the Swarm.”

“What?” Galyan asked. “That is illogical.”

“Obviously it isn’t,” Ludendorff said, “as I spoke it.”

“How can you state such foolishness?” Galyan asked.

“I can state the
fact
because I believe you’re infected with a Swarm computer virus,” Ludendorff said. “It would explain your hostile attitude and this insistence of finding them.”

“I want to destroy the Swarm,” Galyan said, “not aid them.”

“That is the lie you’re telling yourself,” Ludendorff said.

“That is preposterous,” Dana said.

“I agree,” Galyan said.

“You’re both wrong,” Ludendorff said. “I see it clearly. Once you reach the Swarm—any Swarm world—the virus will metastasize, and you will give your ancient enemy the starship and all its accompanying technologies. Since you have a unique star drive and Laumer Drive, you will unleash the Swarm onto the universe in a way it can hardly conceive.”

“You cannot be right,” Galyan said.

“The professor cannot possibly know any of that,” Dana added. “This is too much.”

“I assure you,” Ludendorff said. “I speak the truth.”

“Just a moment,” Maddox said, before Dana could rebuttal the professor. “This is an interesting theory. I don’t believe we should discount it out of hand. We know Professor Ludendorff knows more about aliens than any human alive.”

Ludendorff nodded.

“You believe him?” Galyan asked Maddox.

“The professor found your lost star system,” Maddox said. “He knew who could board you. He has revealed your species name and told us something about your race.”

“That we were peaceful?” Galyan asked.

“Lovers of peace,” Ludendorff said. “You were unsuited for warfare. It’s why you built such devastating battle systems. Terrorism is the tool of the weak. Warriors fashion swords to fight hand-to-hand because they love battle. The truly frightened mix poison and feed it to their enemy.”

“That is a disgusting analogy,” Galyan said.

“That is your peace-loving side talking,” Ludendorff said. “The Adoks were a noble race. It would be a shame for you to gift your destroyers with the ability to unleash themselves upon the universe.”

“Given that this Swarm virus exists,” Galyan asked, “could you eradicate it from my core?”

“Indeed I could,” Ludendorff said.

“How would you do so?”

“We would have to shut down your AI core,” Ludendorff said. “Then, I could study your systems and eradicate the obvious Swarm protocols. I doubt anyone else in the galaxy knows as much as I do about the Swarm and their methods and could do this favor for you.”

“You ask too much of me,” Galyan said. “I cannot let you untrustworthy creatures turn me off.”

Ludendorff shrugged. “It’s up to you, of course.”

“You seem to think this doesn’t affect you,” Galyan said. “But it most certainly does. You will help me find Swarm star systems. You can teach me what to search for. Then, I shall destroy them.”

The professor pursed his lips.

Maddox wondered what Ludendorff was thinking.

“You have been deified,” the professor asked, “is that not so?”