“Thank you,” Maddox said, bowing crisply at the waist.
Four minutes later, the starship made the final leap, leaving Pluto and appearing several thousand kilometers from the weapons-bristling Moon.
Valerie’s auto-message worked. Luna Defense stood down just as they readied to fire on the starship.
Thirty seconds after shaking off the final Jump Lag, Maddox found himself speaking to Lord High Admiral Cook on the main screen. The big man was red-faced with thick white hair, wearing a white dress uniform.
“Sir,” Maddox said. “Pluto Command said they received a direct message from headquarters to quarantine me, is that correct?”
“What are you talking about?” the admiral asked.
“This is critical, sir. Did such a message originate in your office?”
“Captain, is this some sort of joke?”
“No, sir,” Maddox said. “I think we may have infiltration agents embedded in headquarters or the enemy has figured out a way to send seemingly legitimate orders to distant posts. Some of our people may be compromised.”
The admiral swore angrily, fixing Maddox with a steely gaze. “What do you mean specifically?”
Maddox gave him a quick rundown of what had just happened by the Pluto Laumer-Point.
Cook laughed bitterly. “You’re a troublemaker, son. It follows you like a flock of vultures. But enough of that. I’ll look into those false orders soon enough. Tell me what happened out there on the rim of ‘C’ Quadrant. Did we beat the enemy fleet? What happened to Fletcher? Is he still alive?”
Maddox highlighted the important details as quickly as he could.
During the speech, Valerie piloted the starship closer to Earth.
“Thank God Admiral Fletcher is still alive,” Cook said with relief. “I congratulate you, Captain. You succeeded marvelously. Half the Fifth Fleet is coming home. This is wonderful news, simply wonderful. You beat the New Men. I’m amazed, sir. It seems that Brigadier O’Hara was right about you all along.”
“There’s more, sir,” Maddox said. In a broad outline, he spoke about the doomsday machine and its magnetic storm method of transfer.
“Hold it, Captain,” the admiral said. The older man had leathery features. They’d grimly fixed onto Maddox. “I want you down here on the double. This is a face-to-face conversation. By the way, how is Professor Ludendorff? You brought him with you, yes?”
Maddox hesitated. That seemed like an odd question to ask at a moment like this. “I have him in stasis, sir. He mutinied against us—”
“What?” Cook asked, with worry in his eyes. “Professor Ludendorff is in stasis?”
“Yes, sir,” Maddox said.
Cook appeared shocked.
“Sir, once you hear—”
“No more,” Cook said, raising a big hand. “I don’t want… I want you in Geneva on the double, Captain. Bring the professor with you.”
“What about the rest of the professor’s team, sir?”
“They’re in—never mind. They must be. Yes, bring them down, too. I can’t believe this.”
“I’m going to let—”
“That will be all, Captain. Not another word, do you understand me?”
The admiral’s look told Maddox the other finally understood what it meant with Pluto Command receiving false instructions. If the enemy could send manufactured orders, could he tap into regular communications?
Maddox wondered about that. Earth must still be rife with enemy espionage attacks. The New Men had a long-distance transfer pyramid. The star cruisers appearing in the Xerxes System had proven that. Even though Star Watch had Victory, the enemy had a faster method of travel. The New Men would exploit whatever advantages they possessed.
“Yes, sir,” Maddox said, “I understand.”
“I imagine you’ve already written a full report of all these activities.”
“No, sir, I have not.” Maddox hated writing reports, always putting them off until the last minute.
Cook eyed him. “Get here on the double, Captain. I’m giving you emergency clearance. If this—blast it! Get down here now, Maddox. Cook out.”
***
Sergeant Riker helped Maddox load the stasis tubes into the shuttle’s cargo hold, the tubes holding Ludendorff, Villars and the archeologists. Maddox did not intend to thaw them out first. There wasn’t time, and he wasn’t going to risk it.
“You’re in charge of Victory while I’m gone,” Maddox told Valerie in the hangar bay. “I’d like to let you have some leave on Earth before we’re on the clock again, but I’m not sure that’s an option.”
“I’m fine, sir,” Valerie said. “I doubt this is a time for a vacation anyway. The doomsday machine could turn up any minute. I’ll be ready, sir.”
“You’re staying up here, too,” Maddox told Riker.
The sergeant nodded reluctantly. He was probably the most homesick of the crew.
“Ready?” Maddox asked Keith.
“Aye-aye, sir,” the ace said.
The two boarded the shuttle and strapped in. Riker and Valerie hurried out of the hangar bay. Soon, the giant bay doors opened. The shuttle lifted off the deck and drifted toward space.
“The Earth looks lovely, doesn’t she, sir?” Keith said from the pilot seat.
Maddox sat beside the ace, staring at the blue-green planet.
The shuttle began the plunge. Maddox spied Australia and New Zealand. Neither of the landmasses had much cloud cover. There was a big storm brewing over Tasmania, though.
“Feels as if I’ve been gone forever,” Maddox said, surprised at the pang in his chest upon seeing Earth.
“Aye,” Keith said. He manipulated his panel. The shuttle began its flight for Europe and the Geneva Spaceport.
They passed Star Watch laser satellites, spied big battleships in low orbit and saw heavy lifters heading to waiting space haulers at a Lagrange point.
Maddox’s fingertips tingled in anticipation of the coming meeting. Should he have said anything about Strand? Maybe it was better to have kept quiet about that. If the chief of Nerva Security could slip back and forth, Strand or his proxy could probably intercept laser messages from Victory to Star Watch Headquarters.
The shuttle began to shake as it entered the stratosphere. Maddox glanced at the pilot. That shouldn’t be happening.
“Not to worry, sir,” Keith said. He tapped the board.
Instead of eliminating the shaking, it got worse. Suddenly, an explosion in one of the rear engine ports caused the shuttle to plummet even faster.
“What just happened?” Maddox shouted.
“Damned if I know, sir,” Keith said between clenched teeth. “Hang on. This could get rough.” Keith swerved sharply and aimed them almost straight down. At the same time, the shuttle twisted and began to buck and heave.
“What are you doing?” Maddox shouted.
“Saving our lives, sir! Now kindly shut up and let me pilot. We’re under attack.”
Maddox was thrust forward, to the side and back, but finally managed to grip the straps crisscrossing his body. “How do you know this isn’t an engine malfunction?”
“Because I checked those babies myself, sir, before we left the starship. They were dandy.” The ace cursed profoundly then.
Maddox saw it on the pilot’s board. The heat on the skin of the shuttle rose dramatically.
“We’re going down too fast,” the captain said.
Keith snarled something about a microwave beam striking the craft. He twisted the shuttle. The bulkheads shook. Screaming sounds from outside added to the confusion.
“Need some missiles,” Keith said. “Okay. This is going to get really rough now, sir. Get ready. Three, two, one…here we go.”
Maddox gritted his teeth as the ace took the shuttle through even more intense maneuvers. They corkscrewed, flipped, slid sideways and burned through the thickening atmosphere.
Then, Star Watch interceptors joined them. They were sleek, ultra-fast atmospheric fighters that looked like giant wasps. Keith flipped on the radio and garbled something to the pilots. Seconds later, missiles blasted from the interceptor under-bays, disappearing as they zoomed down to the surface.