The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) by Vaughn Heppner Read Free Book Online Page B

the rest of the survivors into the void, heading for the Tannish System. Six months after the first battle, Guderian had witnessed the victory over the New Men with the ancient starship’s disruptor beam. After the second battle, Fletcher had given her the task of racing to Caliph Mohammad Saladin Bey the III in New Arabia. She was to inform the ruler of Star Watch’s victory over the enemy.
    That meant Osprey and her crew hadn’t gotten to go home first, but headed as fast as they could to the heart of the Muslim star empire. That was one of the benefits of Patrol craft. They were fast.
    As Kris recovered from Jump Lag, she raised her head at her station on the bridge. Kris doubled as her own communications and sensor officer so she began engaging the sensors and studied her comm-board as the effects of Jump Lag started wearing off.
    Kris Guderian had short red hair and a splash of freckles across her nose. She had an Irish-German background and had to fend off more than her share of romantic invitations from the scientists aboard. The worst offender she had confined to quarters.
    “That’s strange,” Kris said.
    “What’s that, Commander?” her pilot asked
    Lieutenant Artemis was a tall woman with shiny fingernails. She was currently the only other person on the bridge.
    “No one in the system is hailing us,” Kris said.
    “Oh,” Artemis said. “That is odd.”
    The Wahhabis were known for having the strictest pre and post jump protocols of anyone in inhabited space. Why hadn’t someone hailed them? Guderian needed to find out.
    Kris tapped her panel, scanning nearby space. A frozen Pluto-like planet orbited several hundred thousand kilometers away. The commander didn’t spy any signs of life there. The weirdest thing was that there should have been Wahhabi warships guarding the Laumer-Point. There was nothing here but empty space.
    “Could the New Men have hit New Arabia?” Artemis asked.
    “The indications we’ve seen during the journey don’t point to that,” Kris said. “Everything has been tense but peaceful among the Wahhabis. Every system was on full alert. You know how zealously each sheik-superior questioned us about the war in ‘C’ Quadrant.”
    “Should I begin heading in-system?” Artemis asked.
    “Yes.”
    As the pilot went to work, the commander fixed her sensors on the nearby planet while looking up its stats on the database. The ice-rock was called Al Gaza and was supposed to have heavy-mount laser cannons and underground shelters.
    A cold feeling squeezed Kris’s heart. Osprey’s sensors showed a hot, radioactive globe. That was a molten planet out there. But that didn’t make sense. Al Gaza was supposed to be a frozen iceoid.
    Kris flicked on the frigate’s intercom. “This is the Commander speaking. We are on red alert. I repeat. We are on red alert.”
    “I don’t see a thing anywhere, Commander,” Artemis said as she studied her flight screen.
    Kris widened the sensor sweeps. “Let’s proceed cautiously,” she told Artemis. “Make it half cruising speed.”
    The lonely Patrol vessel started in-system. Riyadh and Al Salam were both several billion kilometers away.
    Osprey had a few weapons systems, but nothing to boast about. It relied on speed for ultimate protection, although they had a weak shield and paltry hull armor. The frigate’s strength lay in its sensors, in many ways better than a battleship’s.
    Kris used those sensors. Her stomach tightened as she spotted several wrecks floating in the void five hundred million kilometers away.
    The Wahhabi Caliphate had a strong political system. They also had good warships and hardy soldiers. Their Muslim beliefs strengthened their devotion to duty. Sometimes it made them inflexible, but that could also be a plus.
    After fifteen minutes of silence, Artemis asked, “How does one of the busiest star systems in existence—”
    Harsh static from Guderian’s board cut off the pilot. Kris tapped a panel, bringing an