“Open channels with the hauler,” Maddox said, swiveling to face the main screen.

  Valerie manipulated her panel. “They’re ignoring my hail, sir.”

  “Tell Meyers that Captain Maddox wishes to speak to her.”

  Valerie attempted another hail, inserting the new information.

  A moment later, the main screen wavered as Doctor Lisa Meyers appeared. She wore a silver suit as a New Man might. On her, it looked positively stunning. She also wore a silver band around her forehead.

  “Captain Maddox,” she said, with venom in her sensual voice. “You should be dead by now.”

  “Who are you?” Maddox asked.

  Meyers flashed a cruel smile. “A mystery,” she said. “I know you abhor those. This one will last a little longer, however. By the time you know who I really am, it will be too late for all of you.”

  “I’m about to annihilate your hauler and you in it,” Maddox said. “I suggest you tell your masters that unless they surrender and ready themselves for boarding—”

  “Your threats are meaningless,” Meyers said, cutting him off. “You have no ability to do anything to this ship.”

  “You are badly mistaken.”

  “Did you see what happened to your Star Watch destroyer? The same thing will happen to your ship if you fire on us.”

  “Why warn me then?”

  Meyers laughed, but it didn’t sound convincing. “I want your ship. I want you, too.”

  “Why me?” asked Maddox.

  She blinked twice in rapid succession, and then she bent her head as pain flashed in her eyes. A moment later, she straightened.

  Maddox noted the process with interest. “Is it the metal band?” he asked. “Is that a pain inducer? Have you angered your masters by what you just said?”

  Meyers swore at him with passion.

  “Surrender,” Maddox said crisply.

  “Ah,” she said, while regaining her poise, “the famous New Man warning: ‘Surrender or die.’ We will do neither.”

  “So be it,” Maddox said.

  The image on the main screen wavered as Meyers disappeared. A moment later, the screen showed Jupiter and the hauler racing toward the gas giant’s upper atmosphere, perhaps to circle around the huge planet and disappear behind a horizon.

  “The captain of the Recluse is hailing you,” Valerie said.

  “Put him on,” Maddox said.

  “Her,” Valerie said. “It’s Captain Sally Jones.”

  Maddox waited.

  A moment later, an older woman appeared with lines in her face and worry in her eyes.

  “What is that thing?” she asked promptly. “What did it do to the Intrepid?”

  “The black spheroid appears to be some form of alien technology,” Maddox said.

  “Builder technology?” asked Jones.

  “No,” Ludendorff said, who had moved beside the captain’s chair.

  “Is that the infamous Professor Ludendorff?” Jones asked.

  Maddox bent forward, peering intently at Captain Jones. That seemed like an odd question for her at a time like this.

  “Sir,” Galyan said softly, who had glided to a position on the other side of the command chair as Ludendorff. “The Recluse is closing with us.”

  Maddox glanced at the holoimage.

  “The Recluse has stopped chasing the hauler,” Galyan added. “The destroyer’s maneuver toward us seems premeditated and purposeful.”

  “Captain Jones,” Maddox said. “I’m taking command of the operation.”

  “You don’t have authorization for that,” she said sharply. “We’re in the Jupiter Command Region. I’m in charge.”

  “Cease your maneuvering toward us. Chase the hauler instead.”

  “I just told you,” Jones said. “I am the flotilla commander. I will not accept any orders from you.”

  On the main screen, the Recluse increased velocity, heading for Victory at three times the speed as before.

  “Captain Jones, cease your maneuvering toward us at once,” Maddox said.

  Her image on the main screen went blank.

  “Who cut the connection?” Maddox demanded.

  Valerie’s fingers flew over her board. “Captain Jones did, sir.”

  Maddox peered at the closing destroyer. The warship seemed to be on an intercept course with Victory.

  “Galyan,” Maddox said, “fire at the destroyer with the neutron cannon.”

  “Sir,” Valarie said, her speech dying in her throat as Maddox twisted to stare at her.

  The captain stood and walked thoughtfully toward the main screen. Prime Minister Hampton had been under alien influence. Why not a Star Watch destroyer captain as well? The Intrepid’s beam had been reflected by the hauler’s black spheroid. The Recluse’s beam had not been reflected. Was there a reason for that?

  “Galyan,” Maddox said. “Can you run an analysis on the beam the Recluse originally fired at the hauler?”

  “That is a good idea, sir,” Galyan said. “I will use recorded sensor data.” The holoimage’s eyelids fluttered. “Sir,” the AI said, opening his eyes. “The Recluse’s beam was a show, nothing more than a beam of light.”

  “That tears it,” Maddox said, “fire to annihilate its motive power.”

  A purple beam rayed from Victory’s neutron cannon. It struck the Recluse’s weak destroyer shield, causing it to collapse. The purple beam struck the rearward side of the destroyer, the neutron power smashing through hull armor. The beam flashed into the ship and roved through the engine section, destroying the Recluse’s motive power.

  At the same time, Victory accelerated, moving out of the Recluse’s path.

  At that point, the destroyer used its real beam, lashing Victory’s electromagnetic shield.

  “Sir,” Valerie said, “the Recluse is going critical.”

  “From our neutron beam?” asked Maddox, surprised.

  “I don’t think so,” Valerie said, as she studied her panel. “It seems to be a conscious decision on the captain’s part.”

  “Hail them,” Maddox said.

  “I am adding power to our shield,” Galyan said.

  At that point, the Recluse’s engine core ignited, exploding in a thermonuclear fireball.

  The Intrepid was closer to the fireball than Victory. The damaged destroyer disintegrated under the nuclear heat, EMP and hard radiation even as the blast wave continued spreading in a growing ball.

  “Get ready,” Valerie said.

  Seconds later, the EMP and hard radiation struck the starship’s shield, causing it to turn black. If Galyan hadn’t strengthened it beforehand, the shield certainly would have collapsed.

  They rode out the worst part of the blast as dissipated heat struck next. The same could not be said for the nearest colony base and robot stations, part of a chain circling Jupiter. Soon, radiation killed everyone in the colony base and melted robot circuits.

  “Our shield is holding,” Galyan informed Maddox.

  “Alien mind tampering,” Ludendorff snarled. “They must have suborned Captain Jones. That’s why the hauler raced here, because it had secret confederates waiting.”

  “Where is the hauler?” Maddox said.

  “I can’t tell just yet,” Valerie said. “The whiteout from the nuclear explosion has momentarily blanketed my sensors.”

  “Find the hauler,” Maddox said sternly.

  Victory soon maneuvered past the blast area. Now, Jupiter filled most of the main screen as the sensors came back online. The Great Red Spot was more than visible. It was possible to watch it churn and spin with unbelievable velocity.

  “I see the hauler,” Valerie said.

  “Put it on the main screen,” Maddox said.

  “It is,” Valerie said. “If you’ll look down to the left,” she said.

  “That black dot?” asked Maddox.

  “Yes.”

  “Where is the hauler going?”

  Valerie said nothing.

  Maddox turned to her. “Lieutenant, do you have any idea where the hauler is going?”

  “According to my sensors,” she said, “—and I don’t think my sensors are off.”

  “Where are they headed?” Maddox said, his voice rising.

  “I believed the hauler planned to use the upper atmosphere to hide behind a planetary horizon in relation to us,” Valerie said in a rush. “Now, I think the hauler is planning to plunge deep into the atmosphere. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the enemy ship is trying to escape us by fleeing into Jupiter.”

  -23-

  Jupiter was the largest planet in the Solar System. It was mostly composed of dense gases, with hydrogen and helium being the chief components. Those gases often blew at tremendous speeds. The pressure also became greater the deeper one traveled into Jupiter.

  On Earth, a submarine’s hull crumpled like tinfoil if it plunged too far underwater, as the deeper one went, the greater the pressure became.

  The dense atmosphere of Jupiter would create far more pressure than the deepest ocean canyon on Earth.

  That wasn’t the only problem. Jupiter’s mass caused greater gravitational pull. The deeper one traveled into the gas giant’s thickening atmosphere, the greater became the gravitational pull. At a certain point, the gravity would burn out regular anti-grav pods.

  Maddox considered these things as he pondered Valerie’s words. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. “Galyan, didn’t you say back on Earth that the hauler had special antigravity pods?”

  “No, sir,” the AI said.

  “What? I could have sworn—”

  “I said the box-like shuttle that landed in the hauler had advanced antigravity pods. That does not mean the hauler has the same type of pods, although I believe that would be a reasonable assumption.”

  “None of that matters,” Ludendorff said. “The hauler cannot survive deep in Jupiter. This is a trick. We can follow and capture the vessel in the upper atmosphere.”

  “No,” Maddox said, shaking his head. “I’m not taking Victory down into that.”

  “You can’t let the hauler escape,” Ludendorff said.

  “I don’t intend to.”

  “Damn it,” Ludendorff said. “Don’t you see? They’ll go down a ways and then fold elsewhere. It’s an obvious trick. We have to get close enough to use a tractor beam and hold them.”

  “Perhaps,” Maddox said. “Or perhaps they have more confederates hiding in the upper atmosphere waiting to ambush us.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox sat down on his command chair. “Professor, have a care how you speak to me on my own bridge.”

  “Confound you and that prickly pride of yours,” Ludendorff said. “The hauler carries advanced alien technology. What’s more, those damned extraterrestrials play with human minds. I am more than sick of that. We must destroy these invaders and do it now, by thunder!”

  Maddox studied the hyper-excited professor. This was another overreaction to losing Dana, an overreaction to what the Bosks had done to him last mission. He swiveled away from Ludendorff to better study the gas giant.

  “Give me magnification ten,” the captain said.

  Keith manipulated his board.

  On the main screen, the sight expanded as it zoomed in. The round hauler became more significant, and the upper atmosphere ammonia clouds—some of them a thousand kilometers long—showed to greater effect as they rode the winds.

  “That’s crazy,” Keith said from Helm. “Could you imagine whipping around the planet, riding those winds?”

  “Fire the neutron cannon,” Ludendorff said. “Destroy them.”

  “What about the reflective black spheroid that appears to bounce back a beam?” Maddox asked.

  “I doubt it can reflect the neutron beam,” the professor said.

  “A theory I don’t intend to test just yet,” Maddox said softly. “Galyan,” he said with greater force, “launch three ‘M’ missiles.”

  In seconds, three large missiles left the starship’s tubes. After enough separation from the starship and between themselves, the missiles’ engines burned hot. In staggered formation, the missiles dove into the atmosphere, racing after the sinking hauler.

  “The hauler is ejecting decoys,” Valerie said, as she studied her panel.

  Maddox nodded, watching the interplay on the main screen.

  The missiles picked up speed at different velocities, gaining even more separation between them.

  “There it goes!” Keith shouted.

  The hauler disappeared from regular view as it sank into massed cloud cover.

  Valerie tapped her board.

  A computer-generated image appeared in its place. The hauler now seemed to sink faster than before.

  An emitter, an alien device, flashed with power.

  The first missile’s warhead ignited.

  “Your missiles aren’t going to work,” Ludendorff grumbled. “What’s worse, it may be too late now to use the neutron beam. The thickening atmosphere will act as a better shield than any electromagnetics.”

  “Launch five probes,” Maddox said. “We’re going to make a communication chain.”

  On the main screen, the second missile’s warhead ignited.

  “Scan for enemy ships hiding in the atmosphere,” Maddox said. A second later, he added, “Scan for any approaching Star Watch vessels.”

  “Do you suspect more compromised captains?” Ludendorff asked.

  “It’s a possibility I can’t discount.”

  Time passed as the last missile zoomed deeper into the atmosphere. Just before they would have lost contact with it, the last warhead exploded, most likely harmlessly.

  “Now what are you going to do?” Ludendorff complained.

  “You, sir, are going to your quarters,” Maddox said.

  “Bah,” Ludendorff muttered.

  Maddox snapped his fingers, pointed at two marines and then pointed at the professor.

  “I’m going, I’m going,” Ludendorff said. “Don’t think I’ll forget this affront, either.”

  “You know I won’t forget it,” Maddox said, nettled.

  Ludendorff left.

  That helped Maddox think as he tapped his chin. “Mr. Maker,” he finally said, “take us three hundred kilometers lower into the atmosphere. Galyan, launch a relay unit. We’re going to launch several of them and extend the communication chain. I want to see what happens to the hauler once it goes too deep into Jupiter.”

  The bridge crew went to work as Victory maneuvered downward and then relay units launched and sank into the increasingly dense atmosphere. The relay units made a chain, transmitting the images that the original probes recorded to the starship.

  “The images are getting hazy,” Valerie said.

  Maddox could see that for himself as he studied the main screen. They were past the clouds of ammonia crystals and could see exotic blues and greens streaking the underbelly of the clouds. Slowly, the recorded colors changed to purple as vast lightning bolts zigzagged everywhere. In the distance, yellow sodium explosions added to the atmospheric mayhem.

  Shrieking winds caught one probe, blowing it thousands of kilometers off course. The next probe sent back images of a great methane ocean. Later, Valerie pointed out floes of black allotropic ice.

  “There!” Valerie shouted. “I see the hauler.”

  So did Maddox. There was a shimmering force field around it.

  “This is incredible and unbelievable,” Galyan said. “Do you see the readings from the probe?”

  “Explain them to me,” Maddox said.

  “The shimmering around the hauler is a binding-force field,” Galyan said. “It is akin to the energy that holds atomic nuclei together. That makes sense, sir, as that field should theoretically be powerful enough to resist the terrible pressures and planetary gravity.”

  “If the anti-grav pods hold up,” Valerie said.

  “Yes, precisely,” Galyan said.

  “You’re saying the hauler can go lower still?” Maddox asked.

  “For as long as they can power the binding-force field,” Galyan said.

  “And that means…what?” Maddox asked.

  “That the hauler will presumably hide deeper in Jupiter than anything Star Watch has that can go down and destroy it,” Galyan said.

  As if to punctuate his words, the first relay unit broke down. The main screen showed the upper atmosphere again from Victory’s vantage point.

  “What do we do now?” Valerie asked.

  Maddox tapped his chin. That was the question, wasn’t it?

  -24-

  As Captain Maddox pondered his next move, twenty-five light-years away in the Vega System, Lord Drakos’s star cruiser stealthily traveled through some of the thickest dust of the circumstellar disc in the region’s Kuiper Belt.

  Thick-necked, broad-shouldered Drakos stood with his hands behind his back as he studied the main screen from behind his command chair.

  “The ‘E’ radiation trail definitely leads toward the third moon of a hidden gas giant, Lord,” the helmsman said, a tall New Man.

  “This is amazing,” Drakos whispered. “And Star Watch has no record of an Imperial Swarm ship’s passage through the Vega System?”

  “None, Lord,” his Intelligence chief said, a different New Man by the name of Nar Falcon. He was a normal-looking, golden-skinned Superior except for the puckered and unsightly scar across his forehead. It was a dueling scar from a match he’d lost many years ago.

  Drakos removed his hands from behind his back and rubbed them together, wishing to land on the third moon and search for further Swarm evidence.

  He had spoken to his secret Spacer agent several days ago in the Vega Asteroid Belt and learned that events moved forward as he’d expected. There had been a few sticking points, but the Spacer agent had departed a much wiser man than when he’d come.

  Drakos made a decisive gesture, chopping his right hand through the air. The Spacer would do his job. If the man failed, he would die a hideous death later.

  “I see the third moon,” said Nar Falcon the Intelligence chief. Today, he doubled as the weapons officer and studied his board.