The Lost Starship Read Online Free PDF Page A

them on the other side. Thermonuclear blasts would clear any nearby enemy ships waiting to ambush them. The small lieutenant was saying the battle group had failed to take that standard conflict procedure.
    “ As it turned out,” Noonan said, “the New Men were waiting for us. They struck soon after we appeared. Our sensors were still down. Everything was, except for our shields. We had barely made it out of jump.
    “ I’d heard rumors that Admiral von Gunther had a picked crew of fast-recovering personnel. By what happened next, I believe it. He must have realized our peril sooner than anyone else did. Before his laser batteries could charge, he drove the Scharnhorst straight at the enemy. He must have known his vessel didn’t have a chance. Two of our heavy cruisers were already drifting hulks.”
    Noonan frowned. “I don’t know what type of energy the New Men hit von Gunther with, but their beams burned through armor faster than I would have believed possible.”
    “What about his shields?” Admiral Fletcher asked. He was a big man with a permanent scowl.
    Noonan shook her head. “The enemy beams appear ed to have cut right through von Gunther’s shields.”
    The shock of the information broke the spell. Officers began whispering to each other.
    “Attention!” Lord High Admiral Cook said in a commanding voice.
    The room quickly grew quiet again.
    Cook bowed his head to Noonan for her to continue.
    She moistened her lips. “I don’t know how it all happened. We couldn’t record yet. I recall raising my head. The viewer had just come back online. I saw the Scharnhorst making its death ride. Von Gunther took his ship straight down their throats. The enemy beams scored direct hits on his armor. I saw it with my own eyes. The armor plates blackened as the beams bored into them. I remember scooting forward on my chair, wondering why von Gunther had failed to raise his shields. Then I saw the telltale shimmer, and I knew he had raised them. The enemy beams simply ignored the electromagnetic deflectors, hitting the Scharnhorst again and again.
    “My people finally began stirring. I’ve always come out of Jump Lag quicker than others could.” Noonan shrugged. “I remember hearing von Gunther on the comm. He ordered us to retreat. He ordered us to race back to Earth and report on the New Men. He tried to say something else. I believe he had learned something important. Before he could finish his thought the Scharnhorst broke apart under the enemy beams.”
    Maddox noted the widening eyes, the stir of those around him. Once more, Lieutenant Noonan’s tale had surprised everyone.
    Admiral Fletcher spoke up. “How many ships did the New Men have?”
    “ Three, I believe,” Noonan said.
    Instead of whispering, men and women began to talk aloud to each other. Three enemy ships had done this to the Scharnhorst ? By the swiftness of the battleship’s destruction, it should have been twenty.
    “ Silence in the hall!” Lord High Admiral Cook roared. “I will have silence in my hall.”
    “I know what you’re wondering,” Noonan said. “How could three vessels do this so quickly to the Scharnhorst ? The Bismarck -class battleships have incredibly powerful shields. It would take four equally great craft pouring their lasers against a shield for at least fifteen minutes to begin to make it buckle. Even then, it should last another ten minutes. Afterward, the armor plating could take a hell of a pounding.”
    She shook her head. “The enemy didn’t outnumber us. It was the opposite. We had far more vessels than they did. And they didn’t have monster craft, either. If I had to guess, each of their ships had the tonnage of a heavy cruiser. The Scharnhorst was bigger than each of her three tormenters. What’s more, by its ramming attack, the Scharnhorst had forced the New Men to concentrate on her. I think von Gunther would have smashed one of their vessels if he could have reached them.
    “As the admiral’s