The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

the Royal Marines destroyed single-ships, blasters opened up. Only a few of the sub-men survived the first withering volley. One or two looked around wildly, no doubt searching for the invisible killers. The next wave of blasters destroyed them too.
    The boarding attack for the hammership had begun in earnest.
    ***
    A sept of soldiers from the Throne World wearing stealth suits and enablers captured the hammership in exactly fifty-three minutes.
    During most of that time, confusion reigned on the Windsor League vessel. Lights shut down on deck after deck while ventilating systems worked sporadically. During the last ten minutes of the takeover, the subhumans attempted to self-destruct the warship three separate times.
    Pa Kur thwarted each try.
    Finally, with a Seven, he dropped from vents in the bridge ceiling bulkhead. The bridge crew heard the landing thuds and looked around wildly.
    “Where are they, sir?” a woman shouted.
    The hammership commander held a pistol, slowly rotating, searching for something. She raised her gun and fired, hitting a panel.
    Pa Kur didn’t want the woman accidently hitting an important board. He rushed the captain and hit her in the face. The force of the blow catapulted the captain over her command chair. She twitched on the floor with a broken neck and a crushed face.
    The other woman screamed until one of the Seven hand-chopped her neck, breaking it as well.
    Soon, Pa Kur controlled the bridge. But he did not attempt to control the ship, not just yet. First, he and his sept would sweep through the vessel, killing all but five of the crewmembers. He would need those five for later.
    Strand’s plan included Windsor League captives, but they had to be exactly the right kind. After the final killing was completed here, Pa Kur would escort the remaining New Men on the water moon to the nearest Laumer-Point.
    Pa Kur sat in the command chair. He found it to be a good feeling. He did not even mind the dead sub-men littered on the bridge. His Seven would clean up the dead soon enough.
    With an exhale and a glitter in his eyes, Pa Kur luxuriated in the moment. He had a starship command and Strand had a hammership, one of the ingredients to the master plan.
    The other hammerships in the system would never catch this one in time. Those were six hundred thousand kilometers away and presently headed in the wrong direction.
    Soon, word of this New Men attack and victory would spread to the rest of the Grand Fleet. It would continue the psychological process Strand needed to bring about the sub-men’s abject and bitter defeat.
     

EARTH
     
     
    -1-
     
    Captain Maddox of Star Watch Intelligence frowned. What was wrong with him? Why did his head feel so woozy?
    The last thing he remembered was playing poker with space smugglers. The room had been in Woo Tower, the fanciest casino in Shanghai.
    By the breeze on his cheeks, he wasn’t inside now, although a wall loomed to his left. Bottles clinked and women giggled somewhere.
    He concentrated to the best of his ability, vaguely spying an open door in the wall. The sounds came from there, although it was dark inside. Should he call for someone to help him?
    No. He needed more information first. He needed to think this through.
    Why was he out here? Maddox realized he couldn’t remember. What was wrong with his eyes? Everything was fuzzy or blotchy. He looked up. It seemed that stars twinkled in the heavens. It must be night.
    Maddox closed his eyes, squeezing them tight. He tried to recall the causation of his predicament. He remembered that he had been nearing the end of a two-week leave. It had been quite some time since his crew had defeated the alien Destroyer. Little had gone to his liking since then, but that wasn’t the issue here.
    He sensed motion and started toward it one foot stumbling ahead of the other.
    “No,” a voice said, behind and to his immediate left.
    Pain flared at Maddox’s left elbow. He realized strong fingers dug into his