Maddox nodded.

  “Andros, Galyan and Mr. Barnes, I want maximum scanning,” Maddox said. “Discover the star system’s present status. Pinpoint every armored satellite and warship. We need to assess military capabilities here before we speak with the commanding Fusion officer.”

  ***

  It took time for the data to fill in the system-wide picture. For one thing, Keith went out in the fold-fighter, taking sensor scans from much closer to Remus near the G-class star. Otherwise, Victory was too far from Remus to “see” all the spaceships.

  There was an asteroid field in a Mars-like orbital range from the star. Fusion tugs towed a few of the smallest asteroids, building up velocity as they headed for Remus.

  Three kilometer-sized asteroids floated between the field and Remus. The nearest one to Remus had three Fusion battlewagons adding velocity as they used tractor beams to drag the asteroid faster.

  No Fusion warship was anywhere near Remus orbit. The closest was a little over four hundred thousand kilometers from the terrestrial planet. Those were all pickets and sensor vessels.

  The main Fusion fleet was two million kilometers from Remus, a relatively close proximity but not orbital range. As a matter of scale, Luna was four hundred thousand kilometers from Earth. That kept the Fusion fleet out of any immediate danger or surprise assault launched from the planet.

  There did not appear to be any Remus AirSpace Service ships or satellites. Debris orbited the planet, plenty of debris, but no visible ships or weapons.

  “The people of Remus have giant laser silos and missiles,” Valerie said. “How many they have left after the space siege, I have no idea.”

  From a quick count, there appeared to be twelve battlewagons, fifteen lesser ships and ten supply or repair vessels. It was a huge fleet for the Fusion, at least, according to Valerie.

  “Four more battlewagons won’t make that much of a difference,” Ludendorff said.

  “Perhaps the four are here to rotate in for others,” Maddox said.

  “That’s what I think,” Valerie said.

  “Besides,” Maddox said, “it’s three battlewagons and a damaged one now.”

  “Whatever the case,” Ludendorff said, “can we take on the Fusion fleet?”

  “Not in a toe-to-toe slugfest,” Maddox said.

  “I have a feeling that’s the only way we can save Remus,” Ludendorff said. “If that’s our goal for being here.”

  Maddox tapped his fingers on the armrest of his captain’s chair. The situation seemed straightforward. The Fusion was destroying Remus’s ability to defend itself. Would those of Remus sue for peace? Eventually, the survivors would.

  What am I missing? Maddox wondered. It came to him then. “Galyan, are you detecting anything strange, anything odd at all?”

  “I am not,” Galyan said.

  “What should he be looking for?” Ludendorff asked.

  “The hidden aliens,” Maddox said promptly, “the ones who made the memory-stick satellites.”

  Ludendorff nodded.

  Maddox swiveled around to stare at the Methuselah Man. “Do you remember a type of alien from your Builder days that might match or fit the kind we’re looking for here?”

  Ludendorff frowned thoughtfully, eventually shaking his head. “What about you?” he asked.

  “Eh?” asked Maddox.

  “Put that newfangled intuitive sense to work,” Ludendorff said. “Search for the gut feeling, or whatever it is you do. Follow that lead and maybe we’ll uncover these hidden aliens.”

  Maddox stared at Ludendorff.

  “I see,” Ludendorff said. “You’ve already done that, haven’t you?”

  “Perhaps,” Maddox admitted.

  “And?” asked Ludendorff.

  Maddox swiveled back around to study the main screen. It showed a long-range shot of the Remus star. He stood abruptly.

  “Mr. Maker, if you’ll follow me,” Maddox said.

  “What do you have in mind?” Ludendorff asked.

  “You can follow me, too,” Maddox said. “Lieutenant Commander Noonan, you have the bridge.”

  “But—” Valerie said.

  “I’m placing you in temporary command,” Maddox said as he faced her. “You have the most experience, and despite your dual memories, I trust your judgment.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Valerie said, as she stood, heading for the captain’s chair as Maddox, Keith and Ludendorff headed for the bridge exit.

  -48-

  “That’s out of the question,” Meta said angrily. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

  Maddox was in the main hangar bay near the fold-fighter, a tiny ship resembling nothing so much as a tin can—thus, their usual nickname. Keith, Riker and Ludendorff stood farther off, with other technical personnel even farther away.

  Maddox had just explained his operational plan to Meta.

  “Don’t you get it?” Meta asked. “Remus is under space siege. The Fusion captains are towing asteroids to drop on the planet. They plan to recreate an extinction level event.”

  “Meta, I realize you’re worried—”

  “Worried,” she said, interrupting. “Are you thinking about Jewel at all?”

  Maddox scowled.

  “You have a daughter waiting at home for you,” Meta said. “You can’t keep throwing your life into danger because you think it’s fun.”

  Maddox inhaled, restraining angry retorts.

  “I’ve gone along with all this so far,” Meta said. “But going down to Remus and looking for an imaginary medallion—it might already be gone or buried under tons of rubble.”

  “I need to assess that.”

  “No,” Meta said, with anguish on her face. “This isn’t like other times. This is sheer adventure seeking. This is for the thrill of it.”

  Maddox stepped forward and gripped Meta’s shoulders.

  She shrugged off his hands, stepping back. “I can’t believe you’re really thinking of going.”

  Maddox did not glance at the others to see if they were watching. He knew they were. He half turned away, frowning, wondering—he faced his wife.

  “I’m a man of action. That’s just the way it is.”

  Meta glared up at him.

  “I love Jewel. I’d give my life for her. But this is who I am. This is what I do. This is what any man of honor does. Someday, I might die performing a mission. I don’t want to die, but I might. No one lives forever. But while I’m alive, I’m going to do my job. I’m the one who should go. No one knows the planet like I do, and no one has the ability to carry this off but me.”

  “Now you’re the professor?” Meta asked sarcastically.

  Maddox shook his head. “I’m a man of action. I’m not going to belabor the point. You’re my wife. You…” He almost said, “You vowed to obey me.” But he decided it wouldn’t help him in this instance to remind her of the vow. He’d given an oath before God to love, cherish and protect Meta. This was part of that. He protected her by doing what others could not. He wasn’t any different from any other married man who was a soldier, cop or firefighter. Heck, many husbands worked dangerous jobs, bringing home the bread for the family. Sometimes, mineworkers did the most dangerous thing by going down into the dark earth and digging for ores that kept a technological society going.

  “Please don’t go,” Meta said, looking at him with tears in her eyes.

  “Darling,” he said, coming to her, hugging her tightly. “I love you,” he whispered.

  “I love you, too,” she said, hugging him fiercely so it felt as if his ribs shifted.

  “I…have to do this,” he said, trying hard to talk normally as she crushed his ribs with her heavy-gravity strength.

  Meta sniffled, but nodded, pressing her face against his chest afterward. “I hate this, but you’re right. It’s who you are. When the day comes that you don’t come home…” She hugged him even more fiercely.

  He could barely breathe.

  “Dear God,” she whispered. “Protect my man. Bring him back to me, please. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Maddox managed to say.

  Finally, Meta released him.

  “Thanks, my love,” he said, wondering if she’d bruised some of his ribs. He grinned to cover any grimace of pain.

  Meta shook her head at him, but there was a small smile on her face.

  She was so beautiful, and it was much more than her physical beauty, although that was glorious. It was her inner beauty, a wife worth having. Meta was the kind of woman that made marriage a delight for a man. He would go to war against the world for her, and he would unhesitatingly place himself before a bullet meant for her. Even more, he would love her by attempting to do the small things she so loved. It was probably the greatest reason why he’d changed over all these years, no longer quite the harsh bastard that he used to be.

  Maddox chucked her under the chin. “It should only take a day or two,” he said.

  “I wish you’d take me with you.”

  Maddox shook his head. “I can’t do that to Jewel.”

  “I know. You must realize, though, that this has to be one of the craziest of your missions.”

  “It might appear so,” Maddox said. “But something is telling me that this is critical. I wouldn’t go if I didn’t truly believe it was important.”

  Meta searched his eyes and then nodded. “I guess I’m learning that. But…you owe me one, mister.”

  Maddox grinned again, a cocky lopsided thing. He moved in, kissing her lingeringly on the lips, running his fingers through her hair. “See you, love,” he said, upon disengaging.

  Meta swallowed, forcing a smile onto her trembling lips.

  With that, Maddox turned away, striding for the fold-fighter, calling Riker and Keith to him.

  -49-

  In truth, Maddox planned a daring insertion onto Remus. Far too many things could go wrong. But he had a strong intuitive feeling about this and its necessity.

  Keith piloted the fold-fighter, with Riker and Maddox as the only passengers.

  Before boarding, Maddox had given some last-minute instructions to Ludendorff, receiving a sharp clap on the shoulder and a hearty wish of good luck. It seemed the Methuselah Man was happy to stay behind on this one.

  Maddox was still wondering about that.

  “I’m not sure I appreciate you ordering me to undertake this fool quest,” Riker complained from his seat.

  “What?” Maddox asked, looking up. “Oh. Well, you’re not married. You have no kids, and you’re the greatest plodder on the ship.”

  “Plodder is it?”

  “That’s right, and you have common sense in spades.”

  “Apparently not,” Riker said, “or I would have retired already and been home drinking iced tea.”

  “Perhaps a selective common sense then,” Maddox said.

  “Are you two ready?” Keith asked from his piloting seat.

  The fold-fighter tin can with stubby wings had drifted out of the hangar bay, with ringed Vulcan dominating the surroundings.

  “We’re ready,” Maddox said.

  “Wait,” Riker said. “I haven’t taken my injection yet.”

  “Hurry it,” Maddox said. “We’re wasting time now. You should have already taken your shot.”

  Riker pulled down a kit, rummaged around until he found a hypo, checked it and then gave himself a shot that would aid in recovering from fold lag. He rubbed the spot. “Are you sure these clothes are right for Remus?”

  Riker referred to the disguises Maddox and he wore. They were military uniforms, those of privates in the Remus Ground Service. Maddox had related his memories to the fabricators and this was what they’d made.

  “We’ll find out quickly enough once we reach there,” Maddox said.

  Riker stared at the captain, but refrained from commenting further.

  As they waited for the shot to take, Maddox and Keith conferred together. Maddox wanted Keith to deposit them a few miles outside Latium, where he’d spent a childhood of memories as Garth, begging for coins.

  The Monastery of Saint Benson was outside Latium, and it seemed like the best place to look for the medallion and the book by Doctor Van Nath.

  Was Garth still alive, or had aliens abducted and drained him of his memories? How did the hidden aliens manage their technological feat?

  “Ah…” Keith said, as he looked up from his screen. He’d been scrolling as Maddox spoke, searching for something. “Where is this Latium?”

  “On the main continent,” Maddox said. “It’s near a bay called the Sea of Sorrows. The bay is huge and nearly perfectly circular.”

  Keith looked at Maddox blankly.

  “You don’t have a map of Remus?” asked Maddox.

  “Not in my database,” Keith said.

  Maddox scowled. Could they have overlooked that when Keith had used the fold-fighter before to scan the inner system? They must have overlooked it. Keith must have scanned around and near Remus but not on it.

  “Do we abort?” asked Keith.

  Maddox shook his head. He should be able to spot Latium from space, or the location where the city would be. As Garth, he’d looked at enough atlases. This was a stupid oversight. Was he counting on his Garth memories too much?

  A timer pinged, telling them Riker was ready to go.

  “What’s it to be, sir?” Keith asked.

  “Fold,” Maddox said. “We’ll improvise as we go.”

  ***

  Keith folded from Vulcan in the outer system to halfway to Remus. Despite their hypo shots, it took each of them a few moments to shake off the lag.

  “Here’s the question,” Keith said shortly. “From here, do you want me fold into Remus orbital space or down so I’m a few kilometers from the planet’s surface?”

  “What’s safest?” asked Riker, speaking before Maddox could answer.

  Keith glanced at Maddox.

  Maddox nodded.

  “In this instance, I’m not sure,” Keith said. “It depends on what kind of defenses Remus possesses, and if the Fusion people have hidden hunter-seekers or other weapons or sensors in the orbital debris.”

  “Remus must have some anti-space defenses left,” Maddox said. “Otherwise, the Fusion fleet wouldn’t be so far from the planet.”

  “Agreed.”

  “What do you recommend?” Maddox asked.

  “Well, I don’t like that we don’t know exactly what’s down there. A pre-landing sensor sweep is more than standard procedure: it’s just plain common sense.”

  “What’s going on?” Riker asked. He hadn’t been paying attention earlier. “We don’t know what’s down there?”

  “We have a good idea,” Maddox said.

  “We have better tech than both sides, and we have me,” Keith said with a grin. “Still, this is a military op, and good recon is critical to success. But coming in high might put us in danger of attack by hunter-seekers, and it might alert a watchful Fusion. Better that we remain hidden from them. So, given all that, I’m inclined to go for a low entry: meaning, several kilometers over the surface.”

  “Are we too far out for that kind of fold?” Maddox asked.

  “Depends on what kind of safety margins you’re considering,” Keith said.

  “I don’t know about you two,” Riker said, “but I’d prefer the highest safety margins possible.”

  “Like I said a second ago,” Keith said. “If it were me, I’d concentrate on remaining hidden from the Fusion. Once they know what we’re doing, it might become trickier a lot faster.”

  Maddox knit his brow. How could they have forgotten to do a recon sweep of the planet itself? He hadn’t expected to do a quick insertion op like this; that was probably the majority of the reason.

  Riker was grumbling under his breath, saying something.

  “Do you care to comment so I can hear, Sergeant?” Maddox asked.

  “I do,” Riker said. “This is starting to feel like Balder III all over again. Begging your pardon, sir, but do you remember how we crashed because of the damn wind. What’s going to screw with us on Remus?”

  Maddox considered that. The lack of a recon run—he turned to Keith. “Maybe you should wait with us on Remus until we’re finished.”

  “If I stay on the planet too long,” Keith said, “the Lieutenant Commander will believe I’ve crashed, as I haven’t reported in when scheduled. She might start a rescue mission.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “Call them now. Tell them what we’re doing.”

  “That I’m going to stay on Remus so you can make a quick getaway if needed?” Keith asked.

  “Exactly,” Maddox said.

  “I’m sending the message.” Keith manipulated his panel. Soon, he turned to Maddox. “The message is sent. It will take a few hours for the message to reach Victory, though.”

  “Understood,” Maddox said. “The point is they’ll know the situation.”

  “Except if someone shoots us down,” Riker said. “Then, we’ll need a rescue mission but no one will be coming for us.”

  Maddox scowled before he shook his head. The sergeant could always come up with yet another problem. It was time to do this.

  “Fold us to low near the surface, Lieutenant, whenever you’re ready.”

  “Aye-aye, Captain,” Keith said, as he began to plot the next fold.

  -50-

  Low near the surface of Remus brought the fold-fighter into a dense cloud with thunder, lightning and pouring rain. The rain rattled against the hull so each of them heard it.

  Maddox didn’t remember storms like this in his memories as Garth. This was something else.

  “Ash,” Keith said, as he studied a screen. “I’m reading tons of ash in the sky.”

  Maddox looked over, astonished. That meant— “One of the asteroids has already struck the planet. It threw ash, probably volcanic ash, into the atmosphere.”

  “Seems like a possibility,” Keith said. “I’m surprised the people of Remus didn’t surrender then. An asteroid strike—that’s hardball tactics, I mean actually doing it instead of just threatening it. This is bad, sir.”