Read Online The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) by Vaughn Heppner - Free Book Online Page A

said.
    “Why not?” the woman snapped, angry again.
    “Because your security chief just cracked a hollow tooth and tried to spew poison into my face,” Maddox said.
    “What?” the woman asked. “That’s crazy. Spew poison? That would be suicide.”
    “Exactly,” Maddox said. He waved his ID at them. “What Star Watch wants to know is who she is.”
    “Beth Paris,” the woman said. She cocked her head. “Paris used to work for Star Watch Intelligence.”
    Maddox smiled faintly.
    “What’s so funny?” the woman demanded.
    “I doubt very much she worked for the Iron Lady.”
    “Who?”
    “Never mind,” Maddox said. “Take me to the monitors, the video chamber. It’s time to see if we can begin to unravel this mess.”
    He didn’t say anything about Meta yet. Maddox wasn’t sure how deep the rot went in Dempsey Security. He wanted a Star Watch combat team on the scene before he revealed his hand.
    “Do you have a communicator?” Maddox asked.
    “Where’s yours?” the woman demanded.
    “In there with Paris. Do you want to get it?”
    “Here,” the man said, pulling out his comm-unit. “You can use mine.”
    Maddox took it, wondering if either of them would do something. He doubted it. If they were part of the rot, wouldn’t they have done something already? He placed a call to Riker. Once he heard the sergeant’s voice, and saw the thin security woman relax, he decided that maybe these two were exactly who they said they were. But who exactly was Beth Paris?
    ***
    Two hours later, Maddox sat at a secured Dempsey Tower computer terminal as Riker guarded his back.
    The Star Watch Old Guard had stuck the sergeant on him some time ago; the captain understood some upstairs in Intelligence wanted to temper what they considered as his reckless impulses . What the Old Guard didn’t understand was the so-called impulses were part of his… difference from them. Maddox didn’t want to think of it as his superiority. That would be thinking too much like a New Man.
    In any case, to Maddox’s chagrin, Riker had saved his life several times in the past few years. It seemed as if the sergeant enjoyed wedging himself into a quiet corner, with his gun on his lap. After everyone had forgotten about him, bam , Riker fired the critical shot that saved the day one more time.
    Maddox and Riker had checked the Dempsey Tower monitors and their videos. The seeming originals didn’t show Meta leaving her apartment. It appeared that Beth Paris had worked alone, which Maddox doubted.
    A surface computer search had shown Maddox that the records indicated Beth Paris used to work for Star Watch Intelligence. Digging deeper, he found that was a lie. Beth Paris had actually worked for Maxwell Enterprises, a steel manufacturing company. Paris had run security over there. Before that, she’d worked for the Chabot Mining Consortium.
    “Chabot,” Maddox whispered, sitting up.
    “Sir?” Riker asked.
    “Nothing,” the captain said at the terminal. “Carry on.”
    Thoughtfully, Maddox rubbed his lower lip. Meta had worked in the Rouen Colony mines. The Chabot Consortium owned the entire planet. Meta had assassinated Baron Chabot in her youth. Had the Chabot Consortium kidnapped Meta? Would they have sent agents all the way to Earth to do that? That seemed highly unlikely. How would they have known where to find Meta?
    Maddox sat forward, using the terminal to keep digging. Time passed. He went from site to site, searching. Wait a minute. This was interesting. The consortium had a connection to Earth: the Cestus Space Hauling Company.
    For the first time at the terminal, Maddox felt his pulse quicken. Two nights ago, the enemy agent he’d shot had used the Cestus 9 Hauler to reach New York City. That would indicate a possible link with the Chabot Consortium.
    Who owned the Cestus Space Hauling Company? Maddox clicked away, searching. Hello. He sat up, surprised. The Nerva Conglomerate owned the Cestus Space Hauling