Crawley glared at him before laughing good-naturedly. “Summoned was a little joke on my part, Captain. I hope you didn’t mind.”

  “You mean you tested me to see if I yet possessed my former attributes.”

  “Really, Captain, despite your good deed toward us, I seriously outrank you. It isn’t proper that I had to request to see you.”

  Maddox shook his head. “You presently lead the Crowder naval presence, or purport to lead the largest faction. I recognize that, but that isn’t commensurate with my rank in Star Watch, the superior organization between us. But more to the point, I’m representing the Lord High Admiral in terms of reinstating your kidnapped leaders into power.”

  “And our petition to leave this miserable planet,” Crawley added. “It was an insult to bring us here in the first place.”

  “I assure you,” Maddox said, “such was not the intent.”

  Crawley turned away, shaking her head, before regarding Maddox again. “There’s something else. An hour ago, I received a report about a strange explosion. It happened in low orbital space around Balder III, damaging several of our transports.”

  “Not too heavy damage, I trust.”

  “How would you know that? You speak as if you already know about the incident.”

  Maddox frowned.

  “Don’t bother trying to concoct a cover story,” Crawley said. “I’ve also learned that you were in radio contact with the destroyed vessel. It was a cloaked ship, am I right?”

  “You are,” Maddox said slowly.

  “Aha!” Crawley cried. “Then the reports are true. Was it a Star Watch spy ship keeping tabs on us?”

  “I can assure you it was not.”

  “Who was it then?”

  “We’re still attempting to discover that, ma’am.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “Not precisely,” Maddox said.

  “Tell me what you do know.”

  “Now isn’t the moment for that.”

  “Captain Maddox, there was a cloaked vessel among our ships. That is a gravely serious matter.”

  “I quite agree.”

  “I demand that you inform us of everything you know concerning the vessel.”

  Maddox rubbed his jaw. It was a reasonable request. “Ma’am, the cloaked ship was saucer shaped.”

  “What does that mean to you?”

  “We’re still analyzing.”

  “You’re stalling, Captain.”

  Maddox made a bland gesture.

  “Should we be worried about this?” Crawley asked.

  “I would take precautions if I were you.”

  “Of what nature?” she asked.

  “As a sovereign people, that is for you to decide.”

  “Have you detected other cloaked ships?”

  “We have not,” Maddox said.

  Crawley stared at him with her bird-bright eyes. “We will not sit idly by while secret infiltrators attempt to sabotage our spaceships. We will act to protect ourselves.”

  “Would you like me to pass that along to the Lord High Admiral?”

  Crawley nodded curtly.

  “Is there anything else?” Maddox asked.

  “How close are you to rescuing our leaders?”

  “I’m still working on it, ma’am.”

  “I ask that you proceed with haste. The Crowder people are in a precarious situation. We must act in one accord instead of falling into factions, as is our unfortunate custom. This is a precarious condition for us. I hope you appreciate how dangerous it is?”

  “I do,” Maddox said. “I’m working with utmost speed and calculation.”

  Crawley squinted at him. “Two years ago, you did us a good favor, Captain. I hope you’re not resting on your laurels. Our way of leadership mandates alertness at all times.”

  “I am taking your point to heart, ma’am.”

  “I hope those are more than mere words, Captain.”

  “Superior Tudor, that is quite enough.”

  Crawley smiled coldly, as if she’d been waiting for such a reaction.

  “I will give you a rundown of the situation later,” Maddox said. “Until then, good day, ma’am.”

  “Good day to you, Captain, and watch your back. Remember, you are in a Crowder system now. Anything can happen.”

  Maddox nodded. Then he turned to Meta, and his wife cut the connection to Dreadnought Poseidon.

  -13-

  It turned out that the Crowder kidnappers would not speak directly to Maddox while he was aboard Victory. Perhaps they reasoned that Maddox could more easily use the starship to counteract them while he was aboard. Instead, they desired a face-to-face meeting in Bristol, which was a deep subterranean settlement at Balder’s north pole.

  The subterranean caves and tunnels were of greater extent in the north pole region, and the agricultural lands were nearer the caves and had richer soil than the south pole caves and lands.

  “Them wanting you on the planet means it’s a trap,” Meta said on the bridge.

  Maddox was inclined to agree.

  “You should speak to the reps first,” Meta said. “Maybe they could give you more information about the kidnappers.”

  Maddox stood near his wife’s station as he idly gazed at the main screen. It showed rocky, hot terrain with great shifting sands near the north pole. Balder was an inhospitable planet indeed. He was beginning to think the Crowder people had a reasonable beef against Star Watch for being located here.

  “This feels wrong,” Meta said.

  Maddox glanced at his wife. She looked good in her Star Watch uniform.

  “From the stories you’ve told me about them,” Meta said, “the Crowder people are always treacherous and trying something sneaky or nefarious.”

  “True enough.”

  “If they’re doing nothing—I mean the reps—doesn’t that indicate they’re planning something against us?”

  Maddox stared at his wife. Meta was right. It wasn’t just the representatives and kidnappers. It must be the entire Crowder—no, it wouldn’t be all of them. It would likely be those used to wielding power. Since he’d received no threatening calls nor heard any pleas from the planetary leaders, the temporary ones…right. Maddox headed for the bridge exit.

  “Where are you going?” Meta called.

  Maddox turned around, regarded Meta, and then strode to her, bending low to whisper in her ear, “You’re back in the saddle, my dear. That means I run the show aboard Victory my way and only my way. Don’t…please don’t question me in front of the others.” He straightened, smiling down at her.

  Meta blushed, and it looked for a moment as if she would scold him. Then she said, “Yes, Captain. I understand.”

  Maddox nodded. Then, he headed for the bridge exit, calling for Galyan as soon as he was outside in the corridor. It was time to test the representatives.

  Maddox scowled. At least one of them must have had a hand in trying to harm his family. He squeezed his hands into fists. He wanted to kill the lot of them…

  No, he told himself. He had to do this according to regulations. The Lord High Admiral had been quite clear about that.

  Maddox’s stride increased as his features stiffened into a mask. He’d been waiting for this chance ever since discovering one of them at least had been directly involved with the attack at his home.

  -14-

  Maddox sat across from the highest ranking Crowder Representative in a small room aboard Victory, with a metal table separating them.

  The Chief Crowder Rep was Earl Dunbar, a tall man with curly black hair and thick black sideburns. He was a Crowder aristo of extensive lineage, wearing expensive red and white silk garments and with many rings upon his long and rather slender fingers. Dunbar was in his forties with black eyes and an imperious manner.

  “How far are we from Balder?” Dunbar asked. “According to what I’ve been told, we should have already reached the star system.”

  “We have indeed,” Maddox said.

  “Oh?”

  “We’re orbiting the planet.”

  “Oh,” Dunbar said again. “Then, why are we here? You should provide us transport so we can report to our people.”

  “That’s one view, I suppose.”

  Dunbar fixed Maddox with a penetrating stare. “I’m unused to cavalier treatment, sir. I do not appreciate it.”

  “Likewise,” Maddox said.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Maddox looked up at the ceiling, waiting until Dunbar shifted in his seat. Then, he regarded the rep again. “Do you know what happened to me before we left Earth?”

  “I have no idea. But more to the point, I don’t care.”

  “During your meeting with Star Watch, you in particular threatened my family.”

  “Bah,” Dunbar said. “I also made a solemn promise that neither you nor your family would face harm because of your treachery against us.”

  “That promise was subterfuge on your part.”

  Dunbar stiffened. “Now, see here, sir. Are you calling me a liar?”

  Maddox took his time answering. “A dissembler, shall we say.”

  “A liar in other words,” Dunbar said.

  “Have it your way, then. A liar.”

  Dunbar slapped the table with both hands. “You dishonor me with this slander. I demand an immediate apology.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  Maddox shook his head.

  “Then, you leave me no choice,” Dunbar said. “If you refuse to apologize, I demand satisfaction.”

  “Of what sort?”

  “Swords, if you have the courage.”

  Maddox stood so quickly that his chair flew back and crashed onto the floor. “Swords it is.” He turned for the door.

  “What are you doing?” asked an obviously surprised Dunbar.

  Maddox halted, with his right hand already on the door handle. He turned. “I’m calling the guards. They will equip us with swords.”

  “You plan to murder me?”

  “Kill,” Maddox said, “legally in a duel.”

  Dunbar searched Maddox’s face. “Bah, this is more of your fabled cunning. What do you hope to achieve by this farce?”

  “Your death,” Maddox said matter-of-factly.

  Dunbar stared into the captain’s eyes, perhaps noting their flinty nature. “Very good. You’re persuasive. I can almost believe you plan to kill me. Do you think I’ll back down and beg for my life?”

  “I dearly hope not.”

  It was Dunbar’s turn to stand quickly, thereby causing his chair to fly back and fall down. “You don’t understand me in the least. I should warn you, sir, that I’m a champion duelist, having slain many contenders.”

  Maddox nodded. He knew that, the reason he’d chosen this approach.

  “I’m also one of the highest ranked aristos in all the Crowder System,” Dunbar said.

  “In case you haven’t looked around lately, we’re no longer in the Crowder System.”

  Dunbar sneered. “I realize you think you have a razor-sharp wit. If we were back on Crowder III, I’d use a horsewhip and lash you bloody through the streets until you wept for my forgiveness.”

  Maddox shook his head. “I have no time for histrionics. Do you care to duel or not?”

  “I have said I do.”

  “Then, we shall proceed.” Maddox opened the door and stepped through. He turned back to see Dunbar still standing there. “What is it now?”

  “In a formal duel, one has seconds.”

  “Will any of the other representatives do?”

  Dunbar nodded stiffly. “I need two of them.”

  “Name them. They shall be your second and third.”

  “Duke Frazier and Lord Terrance Locke.”

  “Is there anything else?” Maddox asked.

  Two spots of color had appeared on Dunbar’s cheeks, one on each. “I’m ready if you are, sir. I’ll see this charade through to the end, and then I’ll report to my people what kind of charlatan you are.”

  “Dead men don’t report,” Maddox said. “But do come along. I’m eager to proceed.”

  ***

  Thirty minutes later, Maddox and Dunbar stood in a cleared gymnasium. Sergeant Riker was the captain’s second, while Professor Ludendorff was the third and acted as Maddox’s rep.

  Earl Dunbar had chosen two other tall Crowder men, each similar in build to him.

  Four Marines in armor and standard arms watched the proceedings. Maddox had given the lieutenant strict instructions about how to act.

  Maddox wore tight black pants and boots, but no shirt. He had no fat on his lean, whipcord frame, his muscles like sculptured bands of steel. He held a saber in his right hand, the edge razor-sharp.

  Earl Dunbar wasn’t as tall as Maddox. He wore black pants, slippers and a puffy white shirt. He, too, held a saber, swishing it back and forth.

  The two reps—one for Maddox and one for Dunbar—had attempted to find reconciliation between the duelists. Earl Dunbar had demanded that Maddox kneel before him and apologize for calling him a liar. Maddox refused. He then demanded that Dunbar give him precise details about how the Crowder representatives had contacted criminal Earth elements. Dunbar had declared that he knew nothing about such things.

  “Again,” Maddox said, “you lie like the snake in the grass that you are.”

  The two red spots of color reappeared on Dunbar’s cheeks.

  “Since you are about to die,” Maddox said, “you should come clean and admit the truth. It will go better for you when you met your Maker.”

  “I do not believe in any higher deities or power,” Dunbar sneered.

  “Perhaps it’s the reason why you’re such a bald-faced liar,” Maddox said.

  “Now, see here, sir,” Duke Frazier said, Dunbar’s third. “I’ve listened to this long enough. A duel is a matter of honor. These continued slurs are unseemly.”

  Maddox shook his head. “No slurs are intended, sir. I speak the plain truth.”

  Frazier looked Maddox up and down before he turned to Dunbar. “I’m afraid the captain is a classless barbarian without a scintilla of style.”

  Dunbar nodded and swished his sword again. “No worries. I shall teach the pup a lesson he shan’t soon forget.”

  “Wait, wait,” Dunbar’s second said. “This is Captain Maddox you’re facing. You should reconsider—”

  “Silence!” Dunbar told his second. “I’m the greatest duelist among us. Despite his reputation, the captain is as good as dead.”

  “Is that wise to speak so?” asked the second.

  “To teach those of Star Watch to treat us respectfully, I think it is,” Dunbar said.

  Maddox glanced at Riker.

  Riker looked up at the ceiling before he turned and asked Dunbar, “Are you ready, sir?”

  “I am.”

  Dunbar’s second turned to Maddox. “Sir, is this really necessary? If you had a point to all this, I believe you’ve made it.”

  “No,” Maddox said mildly. “I haven’t made my point yet.”

  “Can I ask what your point is?” the second said.

  “I’ve said it before. But I can repeat it. One of you planned to at least kidnap and possibly murder my family. That means one or more of you planned to extinguish the life of my baby girl and wife. For that, I demand satisfaction.”

  “What kind of satisfaction?” the second asked.

  Maddox smiled in a predatory manner, stepping up with his right leg forward.

  “Earl Dunbar,” his second said. “The captain is relentless. Words will not do, it seems.”

  “Bah,” Dunbar said. “This is a farce, but I won’t back down. Remember, Captain, I’m a representative of the Crowder People. Treat me disrespectfully at your peril.”

  Maddox said no more, merely watched the man as he would a target through a sniper scope.

  Earl Dunbar stepped up, still sneering, his blade en garde.

  The judge, the Marine lieutenant, said, “Are you gentlemen ready?”

  Maddox nodded.

  Dunbar sneered a bit more.

  “Then,” the lieutenant said, as he stepped sharply back. “Begin.”

  Dunbar stamped forward, his rear hand held up and his saber—

  Maddox lunged with extraordinary speed. He slashed, striking Dunbar’s saber with a clash of sound, knocking it out of alignment. He then straightened his arm and extended with speed, the saber’s sharp point piercing the fluffy shirt, the man’s chest and entering his heart. Like a panther, Maddox retreated, dodging the weak riposte, withdrawing the saber-tip from his enemy’s heart and chest.

  Earl Dunbar collapsed onto the deck. He coughed once, coughed a second time, spitting up blood, and then he died, with a look of painful astonishment on his face.

  -15-

  In the gymnasium, Maddox stood with his bloodied saber, his features blank and thereby unreadable. He didn’t look at Earl Dunbar. The man was dead, thus he no longer mattered. He gazed at Duke Frazier and Lord Terrance Locke.

  Both Crowder men stared in astonishment at the dead Earl Dunbar. Finally, they glanced at each other, and then noticed the captain’s silent patience.

  “You killed him,” Frazier said.

  “As I said I would,” Maddox replied.

  Frazier had a wide face and thin neck, and wore an old-fashioned suit. His astonishment changed to anger. “This is murder.”

  “You’re mistaken,” Maddox said. “We dueled. Dunbar lost. It’s all on video, and there are multiple witnesses. You yourself agreed to participate—and so, if it’s murder, you’re an accomplice. Now, you two have survived him. I wonder if you understand why exactly he died.”

  “Your speed was unnatural,” Lord Locke said. He looked like an aristo with lean features, perhaps half the age of Dunbar and Frazier. He had a thin mustache and moved with liquid grace, showing natural athletic ability. Like the other two, he was tall, although not as tall as Captain Maddox.

  Frazier turned to Locke. “Do you suspect Maddox used drugs to heighten his speed?”