Superdreadnought 6 Read online

  Superdreadnought 6

  Superdreadnought™ Book Six

  CH Gideon

  Craig Martelle

  Julia Huni

  Michael Anderle

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  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2019 by Craig Martelle & Michael Anderle writing as CH Gideon

  Cover by Luca Oleastri, Typography by Jeff Brown

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  A Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, November 2019

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-565-1

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64202-566-8

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2019 by Michael T. Anderle and LMBPN Publishing.

  Superdreadnought 6 Team

  Thanks to our Beta Readers

  James Caplan

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Micky Cocker

  John Ashmore

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  Dave Hicks

  Peter Manis

  Shari Regan

  Diane L. Smith

  Misty Roa

  Jeff Goode

  Deb Mader

  Micky Cocker

  John Ashmore

  James Caplan

  Kelly O’Donnell

  If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editor

  Lynne Stiegler

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Author Notes - Craig Martelle

  Books by Craig Martelle

  Books By Michael Anderle

  Chapter One

  The Superdreadnought Reynolds lurked behind a convenient moon, sensors locked on a large ship drifting slowly through the Dorayas system. “Renegades. Pirates. Scum,” a voice mumbled from the captain’s seat.

  “Delivering Justice one last time, Captain Reynolds?” the first officer, Jiya Lemaire, asked.

  The captain stood. “It is time to head home. Take what we’ve learned back to my Queen. We will tell her of the Phraim-‘Eh clan’s destruction and that the Kurtherian has long since moved on. We will report, then we will follow the Kurtherians to the ends of the universe.

  “The pirates are powering up their systems. An intra-system freighter has left the orbit of the fourth planet.”

  The captain faced the screen. “Prepare to engage on my order.”

  “Blow the fuck out of those bad guys!” a voice cried joyously from the tactical station.

  “You need to rethink the words that come out of your mouth.” Jiya covered her face with her hand and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

  “Weapons are live,” Tactical stated emotionlessly before returning to his real self. “For the record, I don’t have a mouth. Mouthy, yes. Mouth, no. Dumbass.”

  Jiya rolled her eyes so far she almost fell backward.

  “Engage.” Reynolds skipped the banter and focused like a laser on the pirate ship. The SD Reynolds surged sunward and dove on the pirates. “Fire.”

  Tactical responded by sending a stream of hypervelocity projectiles toward the enemy, followed by two missiles and a series of laser beams.

  The lasers hit first, scorching the hull and cutting deep into one of the ship’s four engines. The railgun projectiles hit next, stitching across the wide midsection of the cigar-shaped ship. The pirate turned to run, but it was already belching fire from the hull breaches. The flames flashed, then died, extinguished when cut off from the oxygen supply within. The ship moved in slow motion, an easy target for the missiles that accelerated to impact.

  They slammed into the ship. The violence of their arrival was enough to kill the ship, but when they exploded, they tore the pirate vessel apart, turning it into a mini supernova. The Reynolds’ screen darkened for a moment, lightening once the flash was gone.

  As was the ship. Jiya waved at the freighter as it continued toward its destination. The freighter didn’t acknowledge the assistance that Reynolds had provided, but it was still the right thing to do. The superdreadnought sailed past the ruins of the pirates for a victory lap around the sun on their way out of Dodge.

  “With one last act, we leave the Chain galaxy behind,” Reynolds said, legs spread wide, fists jammed onto his hips. He’d seen the stance on one of the old-style video programs. It was supposed to be a power pose, but he didn’t feel the power. Maybe someone else was supposed to be intimidated. As intelligent as he was, some things the warm-blooded, sentient creatures did made no sense.

  He continued, “Comm, give me ship-wide broadcast, please.”

  “Go,” the empty seat at the communications station reported.

  “When we arrived here more than a year ago, we were attacked. Since then, we have been welcomed less often than we were attacked. We helped people and were helped. We’ve made incredible allies, and for them alone, the battles and this trip was worth it.” The captain nodded to his alien first officer, as human as any human he’d ever worked with, but not human. Just like him. They made a good team.

  “I think it’s time to take back everything we’ve learned. Allow the other ships of the Queen’s fleet to upgrade with the technology we’ve acquired. Learn how the Federation has evolved. We return to High Tortuga, comfortable that we have eliminated a swath of Kurtherian influence, substituting the Justice and peace that comes from Queen Bethany Anne. We will, of course, drop anyone off who wants to remain here, and you have my sincere appreciation for all you’ve done. For those willing to join u
s on our trip, you are in for a great ride. I hope this is what you signed up for because you are going to see some eye-popping shit! First Officer, canvass the crew and see who we need to let off.”

  Music started playing from Tactical’s position, soft at first—the opening riff to Black Sabbaths’ Iron Man. It built in intensity until Jiya was holding her hands over her ears. Reynolds drew a finger across his throat and the volume dropped, but the music played on.

  “I thought maintenance had completed the repairs? I think they missed something in the comm system. Maybe some kind of large, hungry, metal rodent.”

  “That was music, you heathen!” Tactical called, turning it up again.

  The metal cut off, and a plaintive fiddle cried out through the bridge. “Now, that’s music,” the XO said from the empty chair.

  Jiya clapped her free hand over her ear, her coffee sloshing. “Stop torturing whatever animal that is!”

  “Enough,” Reynolds said. The music stopped.

  “Home?” Jiya asked, Reynolds’ request of her finally registering, making a sour face. “I don’t want to go back to Lariest. Where you go, I go.”

  “Home? Loran?” Asya asked, striding through the door with Ria and Maddox on her heels. “I don’t think so.”

  “Good enough for me.” Reynolds turned to Asya, Ria, and Maddox as they strode onto the bridge. “What about the rest of you? You all said you want to continue the adventure with me. Are you having second thoughts?”

  The four crew members shook their heads. “No, sir!” they cried in unison.

  “You won’t get rid of us that easily,” Jiya said. “Let me verify with the rest of the crew.”

  Jiya went to the comm station and tapped a few buttons to open the ship-wide broadcast. “If anyone wants to get off the ship, you have fifteen seconds to tell me. You would already know if you did, so that’s why I’m not giving anyone time to waffle.” She counted down. No one signaled her. “Done. Prepare to Gate across the universe.”

  “You meatbags just warm my heart,” Tactical said.

  “Stow it, Tactical.” Reynolds sat in the command chair. “Ensign Alcott, Navigation will send you the coordinates for the Devon system.”

  “Stations, people,” XO said. “Sound General Quarters. Battlestations.”

  “If we’re headed home, do we really need to be at battlestations?” Jiya asked. “I thought this place you’re from is safe.”

  Asya shook a finger at her. “Haven’t we learned anything? We always bring up the shields and go to battlestations before making a jump.”

  Jiya rolled her eyes but strapped herself into her chair. She gulped the last of her coffee and slid the mug into the cupholder she’d had Takal install at her place. “I’m ready,” she said to the room at large.

  “I guess we can go now,” Tactical said. “Her Majesty, the first officer, is ready.”

  “All systems are green. All hands confirmed at battlestations,” XO announced.

  “Sir, we’re seeing high levels of solar activity in the primary,” Maddox announced.

  Reynolds shrugged. “Can’t be worse than what we saw at Muultu.”

  “Not worse,” Maddox said, slowly. “But different. This star is somewhat unstable. Takal says it’s normal fluctuations for the Dorayas system. Likelihood of negative impact to our ship is extremely low.”

  “Then why’d you bother bringing it up?” Tactical snapped.

  Reynolds glared at Tactical’s workstation. “He brought it up because it’s his job. If you’d stick to yours, we’d all be better off.” He looked around the bridge. “Report.”

  “Course set,” Ria said. “Gate activated. Ready to go home, Captain?”

  “Make it so, Ensign.” Reynolds’ lips quirked. That never got old.

  A brilliant light flashed through the bridge, blinding them. Static frizzed through the speakers.

  “What the fuck—” Reynolds swiped his android eyes, but white splotches filled his vision. “Report!”

  “I can’t see anything!” Ria cried, panic in her voice.

  “Me neither,” Jiya said. “What was that?”

  “Comm, cut the static!” Reynolds ordered.

  “I’m on it,” Comm replied. “I’m not sure— Wait, here we go.” The white noise faded.

  “Damage report!” Reynolds said.

  Jiya looked at her screens, or tried to. “I can’t see my screen, Captain. That flash—it’s not permanent, is it?”

  “Since I don’t know what it was, I can’t answer that,” Reynolds said. “Would someone without eyes give me a damage report?”

  “No damage,” Comm said. “No injuries, all systems nominal.”

  “Maybe no one can see well enough to report damage,” Jiya muttered.

  “The automated systems are showing nominal,” Comm repeated, his tone affronted.

  “Until we hear otherwise, we’ll assume no physical damage,” Reynolds repeated. The white blurs turned to sparkles, then his vision cleared. The bridge looked the same as always, except the physical crew were rubbing their eyes.

  “That was a solar flare,” the XO said.

  “Not just a solar flare,” Takal’s voice came through the speakers from his lab. “A huge solar flare. High-energy gamma particles. Fortunately, the shields deflected most of the radiation. My instruments are showing a small spike within the ship, but the external probes pegged into the red.”

  “Why didn’t you see it coming?” Reynolds demanded. “Don’t those things take time to get from the sun to the planetary orbit?”

  “We saw the solar activity, but as I told Maddox, there’s nothing unusual about that here,” Takal said. “Since the Dorayans live inside the planet, they haven’t studied the phenomenon. They have no satellites monitoring the star, so we had little historical data to go on. Gamma particles travel close to the speed of light, so if we’d been watching closely, we might have had a few seconds’ warning. But the ship’s shields are designed to protect us from gamma rays. I don’t know why they didn’t stop the light show. Maybe this flare was just too much?”

  “If it didn’t damage us… It didn’t damage us, right?” Reynolds swung around to look at Jiya.

  The first officer shook her head as she squinted at her screen. “No casualties. No reports of damage, except to some of Takal’s specialized external sensors. Looks like we have replacements in storage for those, but all the rest are intact. Should only take a few minutes to replace Takal’s.”

  “Comm,” Reynolds started, “contact the Dorayans and ask if they require assistance. We’ll have the sensors replaced when we get to High Tortuga.”

  “Uh, Captain?” Ria whispered.

  “That might be difficult,” Comm said.

  “Captain?” Ria said again.

  “Difficult how, Comm? You said there was no damage. Contact the Dorayans.”

  “Captain!” Ria’s yell came out in a strangled squeal.

  “What is it, Ensign?” Reynolds snapped.

  “Comm can’t contact the Dorayans,” she gulped audibly, “because we already Gated. During the flare.”

  “I was trying to tell him,” Comm said.

  “Great!” Reynolds rubbed his hands together. “Contact High Tortuga and tell them we’re home.”

  “High Tortuga is not responding on normal channels,” Comm said.

  “Captain, we aren’t—” Ria started, her voice still choked.

  “Ensign, just spit it out!” Asya said. “What are you trying to tell us?”

  “I don’t know where we are,” Ria wailed. “The system doesn’t recognize this location.”

  “Navigation!” Reynolds snapped. “What’s the problem? Where the fuck are we?”

  Navigation didn’t answer immediately.

  “Navigation?”

  “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

  “I don’t know where Kansas is,” Asya said. “So, it doesn’t matter if we aren’t there. Where are we?”

  “I’ve run an
analysis of the local stars, and there is a zero-point-zero-three percent correlation with any known galaxies,” Navigation reported. A starfield appeared on the big screen, with red and blue flashes of data appearing and disappearing as the system measured distances between the stars. “Since the margin of error for my system is zero-point-zero-eight percent, that means I have no idea where we are.”

  For a heartbeat—if he’d had one—Reynolds stared at the screen. Then he nodded. “Comm, get Takal up here. And Geroux. We need to figure out where we are, so I know where to go.”

  “Why don’t we just activate the Gate and go to High Tortuga?” Jiya asked.

  “The system has to know where it is in relation to where it wants to go,” Ria explained. “If we knew High Tortuga was nine thousand light-years that way,” she pointed randomly, “then we could go. But we need to know what direction and how far before we activate the Gate. To do that, we need to know where we’re starting from.”

  The doors opened, and Takal Durba hurried in. He worked in the lab most days, where he’d modified and improved the technology they’d collected in their adventures across the Chain Galaxy, including the agroprinters from Grindlevik 3 and the Gulg transporters. His niece, Geroux, followed him onto the bridge.