“No,” Darius said. “I am jury-rigged. Such an operation would kill me.”
“Ludendorff could do it.”
“He is the Raja’s special prisoner.”
“Then help me free Ludendorff,” Maddox said.
“I am Strand’s slave. I cannot do as you suggest.”
“Tell him to stop speaking,” the pilot said. “Strand will discipline you for letting him speak as long as he has.”
Darius nodded. It appeared he knew that. “You will not escape,” he told Maddox.
The fold-fighter lurched again, drawing closer to Victory’s opening hangar-bay doors.
“I am just about ready to fold,” the pilot said.
Darius closed his eyes.
Maddox sat up.
The eyes snapped open. Darius aimed the blaster at the captain’s forehead and began to apply pressure to the trigger.
“Resist Strand’s will,” Maddox said. “You are a New Man. You are superior to others.”
“That is true,” Darius whispered, with tiny dots of perspiration on his lower lip.
“You are no man’s slave.”
“Hit him,” the pilot said. “Otherwise, I will inform Strand that you planned rebellion. The Master will pain you for many days.”
“Strand will kill you,” Maddox told Darius. “To save yourself, you must continue to resist your subjugation.”
The pilot snarled, looking around at Maddox. “I will tell Strand what you said. First, we will fold out of danger.”
“No,” Darius said in a half-strangled voice. He redirected the blaster and fired, burning through the pilot’s chair.
The pilot grunted and fell forward, although he was far from dead. He reached for the fight panel.
Maddox hurled himself at the pilot. With his body, the captain shoved the New Man, trying to keep him from pressing the fold button.
Darius lurched to his feet, peering over the piloting chair. He brought up the blaster so the barrel touched the captain’s head.
Maddox froze.
The blaster kept moving, however. Hot energy poured against the pilot’s head, killing the New Man.
Maddox fell back onto the floor as the stink wafted throughout the cockpit.
A second later, the blaster barrel pressed against the captain’s temple.
“I am Strand’s loyal soldier,” Darius said in a robotic-sounding voice. “I cannot betray him. I cannot allow you to live.”
Maddox stared into the New Man’s bloodshot eyes. “I understand. You need me as a hostage, though. You can possibly take over Starship Victory. As long as you have me hostage, the others must obey you. This will be your greatest coup. Strand will love you for doing this.”
Darius cocked his head to one side.
“You need me alive as a hostage,” Maddox said. “Otherwise, my crew will kill you on sight.”
“You are attempting to trick me.”
“I want to live,” Maddox said. “But that’s the point. I will do anything to stay alive.”
“Will you help me take control of your starship?” Darius asked.
“Yes. I would even do that.”
“You would betray your trust?” Darius asked.
Maddox nodded.
“You are a vile creature,” Darius said. “I would never betray the Throne World as you do your comrades.”
Maddox did not point out that Darius had already betrayed the Throne World.
“This is difficult to do,” Darius said, as if talking to himself. “I have murdered Sol Stein. He used to be my flagship’s first mate.”
“Sol would have murdered us by folding,” Maddox said. “This way is glorious. The other way was selfishness.”
“You are persuasive,” Darius said. “Yes. I am superior to you. I am superior to your crew. While the odds are low, it is possible I can capture your ship. You will make an excellent hostage.”
Maddox didn’t believe Darius truly believed those things. He believed the New Man had partly overcome Strand’s obedience fibers. That showed the New Man had a remarkably strong will. Darius said these things like a man tempted to do something wrong that he really wanted to do. Darius had a thirst for freedom as Keith Maker used to have a thirst for whiskey. Darius lied to himself. Maddox was merely helping him with the interior lying.
“Tell me truthfully,” Darius said. “Do you fear death?”
“Yes,” Maddox lied, just as he had been lying about betraying his crew.
Darius struggled to speak once more. Instead, he reached out, grabbed Maddox by the hair and dragged him closer. He shoved the blaster against Maddox’s head.
“One wrong move on anyone’s part and you die,” the New Man hissed. “I am the master here. I make the rules.”
Maddox didn’t feel a need to speak anymore. The fold-fighter slid past Victory’s hangar-bay doors. He’d come home. Now, could he get away from Darius?
-41-
Valerie stood in the hangar bay, watching the enemy fold-fighter lower onto the deck.
The great hangar-bay doors had closed. A normal atmosphere had returned. Standing several meters before her were Lieutenant Sims and three of his space marines. They all wore exoskeleton armor and cradled squat rifles. Galyan waited beside her.
With several small clangs, the fold-fighter settled onto the deck. Magnetic clamps made whomping noises. Several seconds later, the canopy rose. Captain Maddox popped into view.
Valerie’s breath expelled. Galyan had been right. The New Men had captured the captain. She’d heard the horror stories about Strand’s mind-scrubbed crew. Would that have been the captain’s fate?
Behind Maddox, a noble-looking New Man appeared. He held a strange-looking gun against the captain’s head.
“Put down your weapons,” the New Man shouted. He had a strong, authoritative and arrogant voice.
“Do as he says,” Maddox shouted.
“Do it,” Valerie told the marines.
Lieutenant Sims turned his armored head toward her.
Valerie nodded as if confirming her own order.
It took Sims a second. Maybe the marine struggled with the command. Finally, Sims racked his rifle onto his exoskeleton back. The weapon was more like a mobile autocannon. The other marines did likewise with their squat rifles.
“Now get onto the floor,” the New Man shouted. “You must all lie on your bellies and power down your armor.”
“Do as he says,” Valerie said.
This time, Lieutenant Sims did not turn to look at her. He remained as he was, with his faceplate aimed at the New Man.
“Did you hear me?” Valerie asked Sims.
Still facing forward, Sims nodded his armored head.
“Then lie on your belly and power down your armor,” Valerie said.
“No,” Sims said. “None of us will do that. The New Man will walk up and kill us if we do. I will not die like a meek dog just because you give me a cowardly order.”
“You will obey my orders,” Valerie said. “I am the commanding officer.”
Sims hesitated. Finally, he laughed scornfully. “I will not disarm and let an enemy butcher us one by one.”
“He’ll kill the captain if you don’t do as he says.”
“One New Man will kill another New Man,” Sims said. “What do I care about that? Let them butcher each other to their heart’s delight.”
The golden-skinned New Man removed the barrel from Maddox’s head and fired at Sims. The energy beam splashed against the exoskeleton armor, attempting to burn through.
Lieutenant Sims crouched and leaped, causing the servomotors to whine with power. Like a mechanical grasshopper, the armor-suit vaulted airborne. Sims yanked his autocannon free and fired a burst against the fold-fighter. Heavy bullets punched holes in the craft through the rear thruster.
Other autocannon shells did likewise, as the three marines followed the lieutenant’s example.
Maddox rammed an elbow against the New Man’s chest, throwing him off b
alance. The captain leaped with his hands still cuffed behind his back. He fell out of the fold-fighter headfirst. With a gymnastic twist, Maddox turned himself, thudding onto the deck with his back and hands instead of his head.
The golden-skinned soldier glanced down at Maddox. To Valerie, he seemed ready to burn the captain. Instead, the New Man raised the blaster at Sims, thought better of it, and vaulted the other way out of the fold-fighter.
In his exoskeleton suit, Sims slammed against the fold-fighter. He crashed against the cockpit area, rolled across it and fell onto the other side of the craft.
The three other marines began clanking to the lieutenant’s assistance.
Valerie ran after them. She could see under the Throne World fighter. Sims was on his back. The New Man stepped up and aimed the blaster at the faceplate.
“Stop,” the New Man said, “or I’ll kill him.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Sims shouted from his back. “Kill the New Man!”
The blaster beam melted the lieutenant’s helmet speaker. Then, the New Man repeated his threat.
Valerie slid to a halt. The three marines also stopped, with their rifles aimed at the New Man.
Slowly, the handcuffed Maddox twisted around onto his stomach. He climbed to his feet and hid behind a landing strut, sheltered from the New Man. He peered around the strut to take in the scene.
The New Man noticed. “You lied to me, Captain. I congratulate you on your cunning. You are almost a worthy opponent. Without this one’s stubbornness, I could have slain more of you. You have diminished me.”
“Lower the blaster,” Maddox said.
“I cannot,” the New Man said. “Strand has forbidden me to surrender to anyone. Your ploy is a failure. I do not mean your escape. That you have achieved. But you have obviously hoped to turn me. I cannot allow that.”
“Fight your conditioning,” Maddox said. “Overcome your—”
From his armored back, Lieutenant Karl Sims reached for the New Man. The blaster emitted a gush of energy, burning against the faceplate.
Marine autocannons clacked, chambering rounds.
“No!” Maddox shouted at the three marines. “Physically subdue the New Man. We need him. Don’t kill him.”
Two of the space marines obeyed orders, even as they rushed the New Man. The third marine opened fire.
The New Man quit burning the faceplate. Valerie didn’t know if the beam had burned all the way through or not. It must not have, because Sims lurched upright. Even as Sims did that, the New Man ducked, sprawling onto the deck behind the space-marine armor.
Several autocannon shells flew over the pair. The next two shells hammered exoskeleton armor. The kinetic energy threw Sims off balance, and he missed his grab against the slippery New Man.
The golden-skinned one beamed at Maddox. The captain stood sideways as the beam washed against the landing strut.
The third marine finally stopped firing. The other two still charged the New Man. He twisted aside from Sims, rolled away, leaped to his feet and sprinted for the fold-fighter. The New Man seemed to have one goal: to kill Captain Maddox.
“Fire!” Valerie shouted at the marines. “Kill the New Man.”
“No,” Maddox said.
“Before I die, you die,” the New Man said.
The armored marines seemed like clumsy fools compared to the New Man. Their armor could take several seconds of blaster fire, so that helped. Sims’s faceplate looked fused and half-melted.
Sims must be using radar to see where he’s running, thought Valerie.
The New Man reached the fold-fighter, jumped around the landing strut—
Galyan shouted a war cry as he appeared before the New Man, swinging his holographic arms at the superman. A torrent of energy beamed through Galyan. The New Man frowned, as the AI was unharmed.
That gave Maddox an opening. He twisted around the landing strut and swept a leg at the superman’s legs. It knocked the New Man off his feet. With supreme athletic grace, the golden-skinned soldier twisted as he fell, caught himself with one hand and turned his torso. He brought up the blaster.
Maddox kicked, connecting with the hand. It should have sent the blaster flying. The New Man held on, but it knocked the blaster off target. More energy beamed, flashing through the hangar bay like lightning.
Maddox danced back, made to kick again—
Sims reached the New Man. A gout of energy poured against the lieutenant. The marine absorbed the shot and hit the blaster, knocking it onto the deck so it went sliding. The New Man tried to slither away.
Sims clamped exoskeleton-powered gloves onto one wrist and then another. The marine raised the New Man and slammed him against the deck once, twice—
“Stop!” Maddox shouted. “We need to interrogate him.”
Sims’s armored helmet whirred. He looked at the captain. He looked at the limp New Man in his armored grasp. Not even the superman could take powered-armored blows for long. Sims looked at the captain again, raised the New Man in the air—
The power-gloved hands opened, dropping the limp New Man onto the deck. With heavy armored clanks, Sims headed for the exit.
“Come here,” Maddox told the other three marines.
Soon, they secured the New Man. One held the superman’s wrists. The other two each gripped an ankle, stretching Darius between them.
“Welcome back, sir,” Valerie said.
Maddox turned around, blinking at her. He seemed preoccupied, maybe even shaken.
That bothered Valerie. “It’s good to see you,” she added. She wanted the old Maddox back, the utterly confident one. “We’ll get those cuffs off you right away.”
Maddox nodded before regarding the New Man. “Yes,” he said softly. “We have a lot to do.”
-42-
Maddox showered, needle-hot water striking his flesh. He washed the filth of the planetary toxins from himself, but he couldn’t wash off the feeling of inferiority.
Dem Darius—
“No,” Maddox whispered to himself.
That was the wrong way to view this. He would control his thoughts. He would mold his thinking. One did that through mindset. He could concentrate on negativity or he could concentrate on positivity.
The Vendels had captured him. He had escaped. He’d killed a New Man and thrown doubt into another. That had caused Darius to shoot the fold-fighter’s pilot. And that had given his people an opportunity to capture the craft. He had helped defeat a physically superior opponent. He was free again, in charge of his fate, with a prisoner belonging to the infamous Strand.
Maddox turned off the water and exited the stall. He had a hard grin. Life wasn’t about failures, but about opportunities. He was playing the game again as a free agent. Maybe the Raja had Meta, Keith and Ludendorff. That just meant he had to free them, and he had to kill or capture Strand.
As he toweled off, Maddox mentally dialed up his determination. He needed rest, but he lacked time for that just now. He would not rely on drugs in order to keep going. He would…
On second thought, he would sleep for a half hour. He needed to recharge just a little. Determination was good. Using good judgment was better.
“Galyan,” the captain said.
The holoimage appeared in the room.
“You did well out there in the hangar bay,” Maddox said.
“Thank you,” Galyan said.
“I’m going to close my eyes. Come back in thirty minutes and wake me. Tell Valerie I’m holding a council of war in thirty-five minutes.”
“Yes, sir,” Galyan said. “What about Lieutenant Sims?”
“I ordered him confined to quarters.”
“He is,” Galyan said. “But he’s demanding a court martial hearing.”
Maddox stared at the holoimage. “I see. The young marine has passion. I will have to factor that into my calculations. But first, I will close my eyes for thirty minutes. Now, go. Do as I’ve said.”
“Yes, Captain,” Galyan said, sa
luting and disappearing.
Maddox nodded to himself. Then, he headed for his cot.
***
The council of war came to order with Maddox at the head of the conference table. Valerie and Andros Crank sat at the table. Galyan stood, and that was it.
Maddox knew he needed to focus. He kept worrying about Meta. Was she alive? Did her captors treat her properly? How long…
Valerie stirred, breaking into the captain’s thoughts.
Maddox put his concerns about Meta into a mental drawer, as it were and shut it. He would worry about her later. Right now, he had a job to do.
Maddox drummed his fingers on the table, realizing belatedly that he had confined his marine commander to quarters. “Galyan, give me a holo-screen to his quarters.”
In front of Maddox appeared a holoimage screen. A moment later, a fierce-eyed Lieutenant Sims peered at him while sitting on the cot in his quarters.
“I demand a court martial,” Sims blurted.
Maddox said nothing, merely watched the young marine lieutenant.
“Sir,” Sims finally muttered.
Maddox still said nothing.
Sims seemed perplexed, then angry as he stared at Maddox and finally he scowled, glancing away.
“You hold the cards, New Man,” Sims said in a surly tone.
“I will confine you to the brig if you continue this insubordination.”
Sims’s head snapped up. “Do you think I care?”
“Indeed I do.”
Sims’s eyes became hot.
Maddox watched the transformation. “I see. You hate me. That changes the complexion of the situation. Do you hate me enough to murder me?”
“I’m a Star Watch marine,” Sims said through gritted teeth. “As long as you—”
“Careful,” Maddox said. “I’m recording your words. Therefore, you should think before you speak. While hotheaded passion can help you on the battlefield, here it lacks the same aid.”
Sims nodded tightly.
“In the hangar bay less than an hour ago, you disobeyed your commander’s direct order,” Maddox said. “Yet, it resulted in the New Man’s capture. You did not murder Darius, but wrestled him into submission. Given these facts, I am unsure what to do with you.”
The Lost Planet (Lost Starship Series Book 6) Page 22