The Lost Command

The second installment of author Vaughn Heppner’s Lost Starship series opens with a memorandum indicating that Captain Maddox returned from the Beyond with an alien starship (the Victory) and that the New Men attacked the Commonwealth, the events believed related. The first four main chapters occur near Caria 323 in the “C” Quadrant, likely of the Milky Way Galaxy, with an attack by the New Men being imminent, although many in the Commonwealth believe they have “victory disease,” blinded by their accomplishments. The enigmatic Oran Rva leads the New Men, claiming to be the conqueror of the Commonwealth, with the galactic organization talking of using the Victory against them.

The chapter numbering restarts at one when the events shift back to Earth, where its inhabitants are ignorant and apathetic about the New Men, Captain Maddox, one of the primary protagonists, told to commence Operation Odysseus. Meanwhile, his love interest Meta finds herself attacked and kidnapped by strangers, with Maddox ultimately coming by her apartment complex and finding that the security footage showing her capture had been subject to tampering. Believing Meta to still be on Earth, Maddox heads to Monte Carlo to visit Octavian Nerva, who denies having a role in kidnapping her. Maddox quickly finds himself in a hostage situation, although he ultimately connects with Brigadier O’Hara, nicknamed the Iron Lady.

Maddox’ superiors believe like he does that the Victory is the key to triumph over the New Men, and the Captain is tasked to find Professor Ludendorff to exploit the alien starship, whose traps have claimed the lives of researchers. An initial antagonist other than the New Men is the alien vessel’s artificial intelligence that identifies itself as Driving Force Galyan, which indicates the ship to be the remnant of the extinct alien civilization the Adoks, who were a peaceful race, and promises eventual conveyance to the homeworld of the Swarm. A series of battles between the New Men and the Commonwealth round out the novel, with Maddox also learning about his lineage.

Overall, the first Lost Starship sequel effectively and satisfactorily continues its predecessor’s plotline, with the characters definitely being believable and the story itself full of good science-fiction action and occasional twists. Granted, the author could have come up with a better-sounding name for the antagonists other than “the New Men,” with the writer likely a fan of the various Star Trek television series and movies in the creation of the aforementioned narrative foes. The story also touches briefly upon the eugenics pseudoscience, with this reviewer somewhat relating to the themes of genetic superiority and inferiority, and would recommend the book to fans of the sci-fi genre.