The Lost Starship by Vaughn Heppner Page A

makes me a better runner. As a navigator in space, you would be better. You have to add a qualifier to your statement for it to make sense.”
    She debated remaining angry with him, but he had helped her in the mall. The thugs with the black leather jackets…who knew what they would have done to her.
    “You’re a slick operator ,” she said. “I can see that.”
    “And you revert to your upbringing in times of stress ,” Maddox said.
    “ Maybe I do. Is that going to be a problem for you?”
    “ Negative,” he said. “It makes your selection more reasonable.”
    “That still doesn’t answer my question. Who do you think shot at us back there?”
    “I’ve narrowed it down to two possibilities,” he said. “One, maybe the sniper belonged to the men trying to kidnap you. But then, why did they shoot at me?”
    “Who were they anyway?”
    “Yes. That’s a good question. Could our enemy have moved this quickly? I don’t like what that implies.”
    “What does it imply?” Valerie asked.
    “That they have operatives within the Star Watch,” Maddox said.
    “So , who shot at you?”
    “It could be the same people or one of the Methuselah People, a tycoon.”
    “Why would he or she come after you?”
    “He no doubt believes I caused the death of his son. He wants revenge. Octavian Nerva has the money to hire the best.”
    “ Octavian Nerva of Nerva Conglomerate?” she asked in shock.
    “The same ,” Maddox said.
    “You have powerful enemies.”
    “Not half as powerful as those after you,” he replied.
    Valerie turned away, staring out of the canopy. They shot through clouds as they continued to fly north. This man helped me. Maybe he saved my life. I have to quit getting so mad so easily .
    Valerie realized her upbringing had made her ultra-competitive. One of her few friends had said she was prickly like a porcupine. “Make people like you,” her friend had suggested. “That will make things a lot easier for you. Besides, you’re beautiful. You should learn to use that to your advantage.”
    Well, life hadn’t been easy. Smiling at problems hadn’t helped her any. She’d had to lower her head and charge through her problems. Stubborn pride and hard work had been her secrets.
    “ So what’s the plan now?” Valerie asked.
    “ First. I need to know how much you know.”
    “ Sure. We’re off on the wildest goose chase in the galaxy. We have to find a place that doesn’t exist and commandeer a warship that can do the impossible. Is that the same mission you’re on?”
    “ If you feel that way, why did you agree to do this?”
    “Why did you?” she shot back.
    Maddox studied her before saying, “I believed your story about the battle with the three starships.”
    “And?” she asked.
    “And we need that alien sentinel if we’re going to defeat the invaders.”
    “You think the ancient ship exists?” Valerie asked.
    “Don’t you?” he asked.
    Valerie shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s possible, I suppose. It doesn’t seem very probable, though.”
    “ If it doesn’t exist, how do we defeat the New Men?”
    “Oh, so we’re done calling them them ?”
    “We’re in private , not in public.”
    Valerie closed the button she’d undone. “In my opinion, the New Men can’t be invincible. I don’t think anyone is. All you have to do is find their weak point and exploit it.”
    “ I’ve heard worse theories. But what if our point turns out to be weaker than theirs?”
    She frowned. “They have a deadly beam. We should start researching like crazy, using what I recorded from the battle. In time, we’ll probably duplicate that beam. That will give us a weapon to bypass their shields. Until then, we play for time in order to do our research.”
    “And if they invade en masse before we’re ready?” Maddox asked.
    “Then that’s how we stop them,” Valerie said. “We hit them with mass, trading ten ships for one of theirs.”
    “What if they have too many ships to make