Meta glanced at him sharply.

  “Are you suggesting I’m opportunistic like them?” Maddox asked.

  “Well…sometimes,” Meta said.

  Maddox slid off the bed and began to pace. “Yes. I am part New Man. I can’t deny it. Should I thank my father for that? He raped my mother.”

  Meta jumped off the bed, hurrying to him, hugging him as hard as she could—which made Maddox wince at the forcefulness of it.

  “Easy,” he whispered.

  “Sorry, love,” Meta said. “I know…”

  He looked down into her beautiful face. He loved this woman. She was so good for him. She worried about him. She reminded him of the…”

  Maddox let his thoughts trail away. He didn’t want to think about the Brigadier just now. But she loved him, too. The captain cocked his head. Just why did the Brigadier love him? Why had he never sought to learn the reason?

  “Do you truly know that your father raped your mother?” Meta asked softly. She had been watching his face.

  Maddox looked at Meta anew, and he frowned. “I’ve always believed it. My mother fled a New Man birthing center. I do know the New Men are domineering and think of themselves as the Lords of Creation. Many of them treat their wives and concubines poorly. Why else did my mother flee unless she hated my father? Why would she hate him unless he’d raped her, forcing…”

  “Forcing you on her?” Meta asked softly.

  Maddox disengaged from Meta and turned away. He didn’t want to think about this. It didn’t matter.

  “You’re haunted by the thought,” Meta said.

  Maddox whirled around to stare at her.

  “You believe this about your father, but none of it may be true. Why did your mother flee? What if you never find the real reason?”

  Maddox licked his lips, and a new thought struck. Did the Brigadier know more about his origins than she’d ever let on? Maybe it was time to ask her about this—when the present mission was over. Maybe he needed to find his father—if the New Man still lived—and find out other truths.

  “Meta, you give me good advice. You’re not like other women, you’re…”

  She came to him, hugging him again. “I’m your wife. I’m your refuge, just like you’re mine. I love you, Maddox. What’s more, I respect you. You’re the leader, my husband.”

  Maddox grinned and swooped Meta off her feet. “I do love you,” he said, carrying her to the bed. “I’m the protector and the cherisher. You’re my vase, Meta, my precious gift of great worth.”

  Afterward, as they lay together, Maddox stroked Meta’s cheek. “You’re right. I’m not going to call the Emperor. Maybe Meyers wants us to race home. Maybe she figures it doesn’t matter anymore. But we’re going to see about that. As of this moment,” he said, sliding to the edge of the bed, “we’re on emergency jump drive so we can warn Earth, hopefully in time.”

  -72-

  Valerie asked Maddox a disturbing question one star-drive jump short of Earth. Victory was 3.21 light-years away from a parked orbit. Valerie sat at her station as Keith readied for the last jump. Maddox sat impatiently in his chair.

  “Sir,” Valerie said, “if Doctor Meyers was able to block the long-range Builder comm and impersonate the Lord High Admiral—”

  “A synthetic likely impersonated Admiral Cook,” Galyan said, interrupting and correcting her.

  “Fine, fine,” Valerie said. “Either way, isn’t it possible that Meyers has blocked the Lord High Admiral from communicating with us, and even more, might have impersonated you, sir?”

  Maddox frowned. “The possibility exists,” he said slowly.

  “What might Meyers have said as you?” Valerie asked. “Or had a synthetic say as the captain?” she said in Galyan’s direction.

  “I have already computed the likeliest possibility of what was said,” Galyan replied. “Clearly, Meyers must want Victory destroyed. Thus—”

  “So that’s it,’ Maddox said, interrupting as he jumped up. “Kill us on sight. If we just appear in Earth orbit, or near Earth orbit—”

  “I would think a full defensive barrage would strike for us,” Galyan said.

  “Mr. Maker,” Maddox said, “abort the jump.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” Keith said as he manipulated his board.

  The energy build-up from the antimatter engine began to wind down.

  “We’ll arrive between Venus and Earth’s orbital paths,” Maddox said. “That should give us enough time to break any jamming and get a message to the Lord High Admiral, correcting any false ideas about us.”

  “I feel much better about that, sir,” Valerie said, “than just appearing near trigger-happy Star Watch vessels.”

  Maddox resumed his chair. He noticed a light blinking on an armrest. He clicked an intercom button.

  “Ludendorff here,” the Methuselah Man said. “I just had a thought.”

  Maddox told him about Valerie’s idea.

  “Ah,” Ludendorff said. “I should have thought of that, too. Yes. I agree it’s a distinct possibility.”

  “You thought of something else then?” Maddox asked.

  “Indeed. It has been bothering me ever since we talked about the second shoe. I’m referring to the Rull androids and the Juggernauts. Granted, Star Watch’s Home Fleet might have fewer warships than is wise. Yet, as long as the Destroyer is parked near Earth, how can any number of upgraded Juggernauts hope to win a set-piece battle against Star Watch?”

  Maddox frowned for only a moment. He straightened abruptly. “Meyers will use android or synthetic lookalikes to hijack the Destroyer.”

  “I see you understand the possibilities,” Ludendorff said. “The Juggernauts combined with the Destroyer could not only wipe out the Home Fleet, but obliterate all the Solar System’s planets. That would be tit for tat in the Yon-Soth’s ring of eyes.”

  “Androids are going to make or have already made a stab to hijack control of the Destroyer,” Maddox said, believing it even more by stating the obvious move.

  “If true…” the professor said.

  Maddox bent his head in furious thought. “We have no more time to waste. We have to get home and warn—”

  “Maybe at this stage, warning is the wrong plan,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “Maybe we should appear as close to the Destroyer as possible and send boarding marines to recapture it.”

  “That bumps up against the other problem,” Maddox said. “That Star Watch is likely loaded for bear and will fire on Victory as soon as we come out of the star-drive jump.”

  “Our present situation counts as a dilemma,” Ludendorff agreed. “If the androids are already aboard the Destroyer, we don’t want them to begin fighting until we can warn the Home Fleet and they can set up to fight the Destroyer.”

  Maddox shook his head. “The Home Fleet won’t stand a chance against the Destroyer. If the androids are inside the alien monster-ship…the game is already over. No. We have one shot. We have to operate on the assumption the androids have already hijacked the ship. That means a surprise raid against the Destroyer as the androids are possibly still trying to lure the Home Fleet into a trap.”

  “And if you’re wrong about all that?”

  “Then, in our dying, we tell Star Watch the truth. Earth’s safety is more important than ours.”

  “I categorically don’t agree,” Ludendorff said.

  “Fortunately, I’m the captain. We’ll reconfigure the jump yet again. We have marines and battle suits. Right,” Maddox said. “It’s time to pull out every stop if we’re going to defeat the Methuselah Woman’s plan.”

  -73-

  Lieutenant Noonan’s navigational skills were flawless. She plotted Victory’s appearance to the millimeter from a star-drive jump 3.21 light-years out. Keith executed her navigational plan perfectly.

  The starship came out of the jump between the fifty-kilometer oblong Destroyer of the Nameless Ones and the Star Watch picket vessels stationed around it. The ancient ship had neutroium hull armor, the best in known existence. It also had a vast aperture in front, which would pour out a terrible beam of annihilating power.

  Several years ago, at the start of the first Swarm Invasion, Maddox and the crew had gone into a null region and brought back two such Destroyers. The Swarm invaders had destroyed one of the giant warships. Star Watch had preserved the last one. It was the great reserve vessel of Earth, meant to protect the planet when everything else had failed. The Destroyer had once been in the control of the Nameless Ones, who had been driven by spiritual creatures, the Ska. This ship had helped gut hundreds and perhaps even thousands of home planets of sentient species. This Destroyer had aided in countless genocide campaigns waged by the Nameless Ones through their cycles of existence. That had given the ship a miasma of doom. The very armor, the strange corridors oozed with the grim feeling of death. Human crews could not withstand the ship’s aura for long without literally going mad.

  That meant many crew rotations, and it also meant that most of the time, the Destroyer was empty, a museum piece of alien evil.

  Victory appeared between the armed picket vessels and the mighty engine of destruction that dwarfed every other known warship, including the next biggest, the Juggernaut. The Adok starship sat there, inert for the first few minutes due to jump lag.

  The first picket ship saw Victory and gave the alarm. That alarm sped through the rest of the picket fleet. The crews aboard the vessels began arming their fusion cannons.

  At the same time, a carrier began braking. It was the SWS Essex, an older vessel but carrying a newer complement of strikefighters, bombers and elite fold-fighters.

  As Maddox and his crew began shaking off jump lag, the first wing of strikefighters catapulted from the Essex and roared toward the Adok starship.

  Maddox stirred as message blared aboard the bridge speaker.

  “This is your last chance, Victory. We know that—”

  “Valerie,” Maddox said.

  “Here, sir,” she said. “I’m giving you visual.”

  From the main screen, Commodore Earl Dumas regarded Maddox, the man who had been giving them the warning.

  Commodore Dumas was a large overweight man with long, non-regulation hair. He wore many heavy rings on his fat fingers, and his Star Watch uniform hung on him loosely like a great tunic. He had dark, cunning eyes, and for all his girth and unsoldierly appearance, he had fought splendidly at the Forbidden Planet and during the first Swarm Invasion.

  “Captain Maddox,” Dumas said. “Order your people to place you under arrest. Failure to do so will result in your ship’s immediate destruction.”

  “I will,” Maddox said. “First, put me through to the picket command.”

  “I’m afraid not, Captain, not until you’re in my custody.”

  “Is the Destroyer’s crew aboard it?”

  Dumas rubbed one of his glittering rings against his jowls. “That’s your game, eh? You plan to hijack the Destroyer.”

  Something was off. “Are you bringing a crew to the Destroyer?”

  “No more delays, Captain. Are you under arrest or not?”

  Maddox motioned to someone unseen. He nodded and faced the main screen, faced Commodore Dumas. “I just sent for marines. They’ll be here in a few minutes to take me to the hangar bay. From there, I will board your carrier.”

  “Sir,” Valerie said, “the picket fleet’s fusion cannons are hot. The picket ships are almost ready to fire.”

  “Commodore, did you hear that?”

  “No more delay, Maddox. I know your clever ways. I’m not falling for one of your schemes.”

  “Bombers are launching from the Essex,” Keith said. “Those bombers are meant to be used against us. He has to be an android, sir.”

  Maddox winced internally at Keith’s verbal blunder. Of course, Dumas was an android or an android-controlled human. But the words had been said and it was too late to take them back.

  On the main screen, Commodore Dumas heaved himself straighter on his command chair, twisted and shouted, “He knows! Start the attack. Destroy Victory.”

  “Andros,” Maddox said, “I need the shields up now.”

  “Give me thirty more seconds, sir,” a desperate Andros said.

  “Valerie, patch me through to the picket leader or connect me to any of the picket vessels,” Maddox said.

  “The Essex is jamming our communications, sir,” Valerie said. “They have advanced jamming equipment, too. I’ve started a burn-through, but that will take time.”

  Maddox made a snap decision. “Keith, start moving us away from the Essex and away from the Destroyer.”

  “We don’t have much motive power yet, mate,” Keith said. “But aye-aye, whatever you want.”

  “Sir,” Galyan said, “might I suggest antimatter missiles? If you launch and ignite, we will all perish, but that will stop the androids from the Essex reaching the Destroyer.”

  “The picket ships have started firing,” Valerie said. “Fusion beams have begun burning into our hull armor.”

  “Strikefighters are leading an attack wave,” Keith said. “Bombers are heading at us as soon as they launch.”

  “Give me a neutron cannon,” Maddox told Galyan.

  More fusion-beam fire struck Victory as the hull armor heated up and began melting in places. The Essex’s strikefighters and bombers raced to the attack. The first fighters began lobbing shells at Victory.

  “This might have been a bad idea, sir,” Valerie said.

  Maddox was on his feet. He whirled around. “Galyan, you’ve got to speak to a picket leader. Go now, and persuade them.”

  “The neutron cannon—” Galyan said.

  “Go!” Maddox shouted.

  The holoimage disappeared.

  “There,” Andros said. “It’s a start.”

  A blue nimbus suddenly appeared around Victory, the electromagnetic shield. The fusion beams no longer lanced against the glowing, melting hull armor, but caused the shield to change colors. The combined picket-force fire soon brought the shield to dark brown heading for black. Strikefighters shells pounded kinetic energy and mass against the weakening shield. The heavier-firing bombers were almost in range.

  Maddox sat in his chair, his right hand balled into a fist. He willed Galyan to succeed. So far— “Lieutenant,” he said, “get ready to launch three antimatter missiles.”

  Valerie nodded as she tried to speak, and as her fingers blurred across her board.

  “Captain, Captain,” Andros said, “some of the picket ships have stopped firing.”

  “Galyan,” Maddox said. “Did he succeed?”

  “Sir,” Valerie said, “I’m receiving a message. It’s due to a hard burn-through, super-powerful, but it’s fuzzy—”

  The Lord High Admiral Cook appeared on the main screen. He was hard to see through the shifting blizzard. “Maddox?” Cook asked.

  “Sir,” Maddox said. “The Essex is full of androids. They’re attempting to hijack the Destroyer and attack Earth in combination with upgraded Rull Juggernauts.”

  “Are you mad, son?” Cook shouted. “We know about your treachery. It’s time to surrender.”

  “The idea about my so-called treachery is Doctor Lisa Meyers’s doing, sir,” Maddox said as calmly as he could. “She’s a Methuselah Woman.”

  The big old admiral in his white uniform stared at Maddox as he absorbed the news, finally groaning, “The Lord help us. We don’t need more of them around. But how can I believe you?”

  Maddox shook his head. “You have to go with your gut, sir. This mission has been full of lies and subterfuges. Remember how Lisa Meyers foisted Hampton on us, and he tried to get you to start a war with the New Men? Meyers wants to wage a genocide campaign against us. The Old One on the Forbidden Planet is the source of this attack, sir. That’s why it’s been so underhanded all along the line.”

  Through the blizzard on the main screen, Cook stared at Maddox harder than before. “Damn you, son,” Cook finally said. “Why do you make things so difficult all the time?”

  Maddox waited. What more could he say?

  “I believe you,” Cook said. “And if you’re right, the Essex…”

  “The androids on the Essex are trying to destroy Victory so they can board the Destroyer. If you don’t believe me, use the Builder scanner on Pluto. Target the Alpha Centauri System. There’s a Supermetals Planet there the Rull androids are using.”

  “I can’t reach the Essex,” Cook said. “The jamming is too good.”

  “It’s your call then, sir,” Maddox said. “You have to do what you think is right.”

  “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this,” Cook told him. “But you are the di far, and Commodore Dumas is indeed taking an emergency crew to the Destroyer. We’ve gotten warning about Juggernauts coming from Alpha Centauri. That’s why Dumas is making the run to the Destroyer. Captain, cripple the Essex if you have to, but don’t stop until they do. Don’t let androids board the Destroyer. That’s an order.”

  -74-

  Maddox followed the order, using the disruptor cannon to destroy the Essex with all hands aboard—the picket ships helped in that. Every attacking strikefighter and bomber perished to the picket ships or Victory’s neutron cannon. Several fold-fighters made a run for it, heading for a Laumer Point in the Asteroid Belt.

  Neither Victory nor any other Star Watch vessels in the system attempted to catch the folding fold-fighters. Instead, Star Watch zeroed in on them from afar, wondering what their Asteroid Belt destination indicated.

  With the Essex’s destruction, communication between Admiral Cook and Maddox became easy. Victory and the Destroyer were midway between Venus and Earth’s orbital paths, so there was little time lag between Cook on Earth and Maddox.

  “I’m sending another crew—a human crew this time—to the Destroyer,” Cook said. The big old man sat in his study, with several secretaries in the background. “It will take the crew time to reach the killer and time for them to check ship systems and get it operational.”

  “We may not have the time,” Maddox said. He was in his ready room, with Galyan in the background.