Free The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) by Vaughn Heppner

destroyed all life in the New Arabia System. That means it has destroyed the home system of the Wahhabi Caliphate. I believe the machine has also been set to destroy the capitals of the Windsor League and the Solar System, specifically, Earth.”
    Maddox struggled to understand. “You said Per Lomax attempted to turn off the planet-killer. Who turned it on?”
    “It is safe to surmise that the leadership of the New Men agreed to the expedient.”
    “Then why suggest Per Lomax would turn it off for you?” Maddox asked.
    Ludendorff frowned. “You must realize every group of humans has factions struggling against each other. It’s in the nature of humanity to quarrel. Not even the New Men have been able to breed that out of their genetic heritage. That means some among the New Men are against the planet-killer. They realize the danger in unleashing it.”
    “If you’re right, that suggests you understand the inner workings of the New Men.”
    “I’ve had a few years to figure it out,” the professor said.
    “Then why haven’t you shared the knowledge with Star Watch?”
    “I am,” the professor said, “with you right now.”
    “No,” Maddox said. “There are too many flaws in your argument. The lieutenant and I saw the planet-killer several days ago. New Arabia is over one hundred and fifty light-years away. The doomsday device couldn’t get to New Arabia in that time. It would take weeks of travel at best. There’s another problem. Even if the machine could get there that fast, how could you receive a message from one hundred and fifty light-years?”
    “Don’t equate ignorance with brilliance, my boy.”
    “What does that mean?” Maddox asked.
    “Quite simply,” the professor said, “that you lack knowledge to speak coherently on the subject.”
    From where Maddox stood, he noticed the slightest movement as the hatch began to open. He remembered calling Riker. Was that the sergeant over there?
    Ludendorff paused as he became more alert. Did the professor sense the sergeant’s approach?
    “I questioned Per Lomax once,” Maddox said in a bland voice, trying to draw the professor’s attention without alerting him. “He said the New Men didn’t want to destroy all human life, just the dross. This doomsday machine doesn’t seem as if it will distinguish between good and bad human stock.”
    “It most certainly won’t,” Ludendorff said.
    “That means the New Men didn’t turn it on.”
    “Are you truly that daft?” the professor asked.
    Maddox only half heard the question. Riker appeared by the open hatch. He gripped his stunner. The sergeant’s good eye widened with surprise. Riker aimed and fired an energy bolt. The globule sped true, sizzling an inch from Ludendorff’s skin, stopped by something, an invisible force field perhaps.
    “Ah-ha!” Ludendorff cried, jumping off the command chair, turning to Riker.
    “Run!” Maddox shouted.
    Riker didn’t run, but fired again. It had the same useless effect as the first shot.
    Then the sergeant was toppling onto the deck plates, frozen in the same kind of web field that had caught Maddox.
    Ludendorff turned, giving the captain a quizzical study.
    Maddox waited. Regaining control of Victory was going to be harder than he’d imagined.
    “Let me suggest some possibilities to you,” the professor said, no doubt deciding to ignore the interruption . “The personal force field protecting me and the web I can project onto others are science of a high order. Let me posit the possibility that these items were made by the Builders.”
    “Who are they?” Maddox asked.
    “The ones who constructed the Nexus and modified the planet-killer,” Ludendorff said.
    “Yet another ancient race?” Maddox asked.
    “The triad that is the Swarm, Adoks and Builders,” the professor said. “Now, let us banish your objections, shall we? You spoke of traveling vast distances in a short amount of time as being impossible. Yet the silver pyramid allowed Kane