Free The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) by Vaughn Heppner Page B

could get to Octavian? It was preposterous.
    “Listen to me,” Maddox said. “Octavian will have every advantage but one. I will exploit that weakness and free Meta.”
    “What could you possibly have over him, sir?” Riker asked.
    “You won’t like it,” Maddox said.
    “I don’t even know what it is, and I already don’t like it, but I must admit I’m curious.”
    “Right,” Maddox said. “Octavian wants to live more than we do.”
    A cold feeling stabbed through Riker. “You’re wrong, sir. I very much want to live.”
    “I’m speaking of ratios,” Maddox said. “Octavian is one of the Methuselah People. Their guiding star is a marked desire for longevity. That is the fulcrum we’ll use to lever Meta’s freedom.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    Maddox studied the stars. They were bright outside the canopy. “I’m going to ask you to do something difficult, Sergeant. I want you to trust me without knowing all the details.”
    “Can you be more specific?” Riker asked.
    “I need your help. I need you with me on this one, but you can’t ask too many questions.”
    “You want me to head straight into the lion’s den, and you don’t want to tell me your plan?”
    Maddox appeared troubled and remained quiet for a time. Finally, he asked, “Do you know where that phrase originated?”
    “What phrase?”
    “Into the lion’s den,” Maddox said.
    “No, sir, I have no idea. Why does it matter?”
    “It doesn’t matter, strictly speaking. I was simply curious.” Maddox inhaled, saying, “Information is everything. The lion’s den. Have you ever heard of a man named Daniel?”
    “I’m not sure. Daniel who?”
    “He wrote the ancient Book of Daniel.”
    Riker shook his head.
    “It’s in the Bible,” Maddox said.
    “Oh. No, sir, I would have no idea. I’ve never read the Bible.”
    “It’s a curious tome,” Maddox said. “In any case, Daniel was an old man at the time of the situation. His crime was that he prayed to God several times a day.”
    “Why would that be a crime?” Riker asked.
    “Ah. Therein lies the tale. Certain nobles of the Persian Court hated old Daniel. Yet they couldn’t find any corruption in him. So, they devised a law that would entrap the pious man. Daniel was a Jewish advisor to the Persian king, you understand, and the nobles resented his power. The court nobles persuaded the king to pass a decree that people could only pray to him. Once Daniel learned of the law, he refused to comply. The nobles informed the king and forced him to carry through his decree. They did it by telling the king no one would respect him if he didn’t stand by his laws.”
    “Daniel died?” Riker asked, “Just as we’re going to die? The nobles’ hatred was like a den of lions?”
    “On the contrary,” Maddox said. “Daniel told the king not to worry. God could protect him. The guards lowered Daniel into the underground den of lions. Then they rolled a rock over the hole, sealing the entrance. The king went home and tossed all night, unable to sleep. In the morning, he raced to the den of lions and called out. Daniel answered him. He told the king that God had sent an angel to keep the lions’ mouths shut all night.”
    As Riker piloted the flitter, he glanced at Maddox several times. That was it? “What angel is going to keep Octavian’s men from shooting us, sir?”
    “Afterward,” Maddox said, as if he hadn’t heard the question, “the king confronted the nobles who had urged him into making such a decree. The king had the offending nobles tossed into the lions’ den. Oh, and he struck down the law.”
    “What happened to the nobles?”
    “The lions ate the lot of them.”
    Riker mulled that over, finally saying, “You do realize we don’t have an angel on our side, sir? It seems to me we’re more like the nobles than Daniel.”
    “Maybe in our version of the story we’re going into the lions’ den in order to rescue the angel,” Maddox said.
    “Are