The Star Cross (31 page)

The shuttle before
Nathan opened its hatch and out came ten heavily armed Profiteers. Behind them
came another group, dragging the antigravity sleds.

The leader
stepped toward Nathan and gazed at him arrogantly. “Is the tribute ready?” the
Profiteer demanded.

“Yes,” Nathan
said, very pleased to see the same Profiteer who had come for the tribute the
last three times. Looking up and down the airstrip, he saw all the shuttle hatches
were open with some, if not all, of their alien crews outside, ready to receive
the gold. “Open fire!” he yelled over his comm. Instantly the back doors to the
armored vehicles swung open. Small railguns mounted inside on heavy metal tripods
fired at the Profiteer shuttles.

Without a
moment’s hesitation Nathan drew his 45-caliber pistol from its holster and
fired one shot right between the eyes of the stunned Profiteer leader, who promptly
dropped to the ground, dead. Nathan heard Corporal Lasher, Private Malone, and the
other four Marines with them open up with their automatic weapons. Other Marines
along the runway added their weapons fire, and the Profiteers died in mass.

Railgun rounds
slammed into the open hatches of the shuttles, causing explosions inside. Other
rounds tore gaping holes in the hulls. Black smoke came from several of the
shuttles, darkening the sky. A large explosion shook the ground when one of the
shuttles exploded, throwing debris into the air.

After a moment
the stunned Profiteers began firing back, and the hissing noise of energy
weapons was heard. However, the sudden surprise attack by the Marines had
already eliminated most of the Profiteers. In less than a minute, the battle
was over. Dead Profiteers lay sprawled across the runway as well as a few
unfortunate Marines, who had been hit by energy weapons fire.

Nathan looked
up and down the line of grounded shuttles; several were burning, and the rest emitted
billowing clouds of black smoke. There was a gaping hole in the runway where
one shuttle had exploded. “Implement operation Undercover!” Nathan ordered, as
he turned and ran. Corporal Lasher, Private Malone, and the other Marines were
right behind him. No doubt the orbiting shuttles would shortly retaliate for
the attack against the grounded shuttles and Profiteers.

“Damn, that
felt good,” yelled Corporal Lasher, as they ran toward a small concrete
building with an open door. The rest of the Marines arrived there as well, with
a few carrying wounded.

Nathan stopped
at the entrance and looked back at the runway, then pressed the switch on the remote
control detonator he carried. Instantly the preplanted explosives detonated,
blowing several more of the shuttles apart. Fire leaped high into the air, and secondary
explosions racked the remaining shuttles. Satisfied that none of the alien
shuttles were going anywhere, Nathan entered the building.

Once inside
the Marines quickly made their way to a wide stairwell and went down.

A few minutes later,
they were inside an old Cold War bunker, buried deep beneath Area 51. Marines
milled around, as they found places to sit, while the massive entry doors were
shut and sealed.

Suddenly the ground
seemed to heave up, and the lights went out. Nathan could hear people yelling,
and then the emergency lighting came on.

“They nuked
us,” commented Corporal Lasher, as he looked nervously around. The shelter appeared
to have held up. A little bit of dust was in the air, but the walls and ceiling
were intact.

“It was a
small nuke,” Nathan said, as he sat down with his back against a wall. He knew
that the surface above them would be a burning inferno.

“What do we do
now?” asked Private Malone.

“We wait,” answered
Nathan. “We should be okay down here. When it’s over, someone will come for
us.”

“What if we
lose?” asked Corporal Lasher with worry in his eyes.

Nathan didn’t
reply. He didn’t have to. If they lost, then no one would be coming, and this
old Cold War bunker would become their tomb.

-

“They did
what
?”
yelled High Profiteer Creed, his large eyes growing even wider in shock.

“The humans
attacked and destroyed the ten shuttles that landed. One of the orbiting
shuttles nuked the site.”

“What about
the tribute?” snarled Creed. They shouldn’t have nuked the site without
contacting him first.

“I don’t think
there was any,” replied Second Profiteer Lantz. “It was a trap.”

Creed
considered that and finally nodded. It all made sense. That was why the North
American Union had volunteered to make the entire payment. It lured all the
shuttles to one location, so they could destroy them.

“They will pay
for their insolence,” he growled, his growing anger turning his eyes red. “Give
the order to nuke all their major cities! Once we’ve destroyed their pitiful
world, we’ll return to Kubitz. We’re done here!”

Alarms
suddenly sounded, and red lights flashed on the sensor console. All the
Profiteers in the Command Center turned to look at Third Profiteer Bixt with
concern on their faces.

“What now?”
demanded Creed, as he turned toward Bixt.

“It’s the
human fleet,” called out Third Profiteer Bixt with fear in his eyes. “It’s
returned!”

“Contact Clan
Leader Jarls and tell him to destroy it, while we deal with the planet,”
ordered High Profiteer Creed, his eyes focused on the blue-white globe on one
of the viewscreens. The humans were in revolt, and they had called in their
fleet from the colony world. They would all die together.

“I don’t know
if he can,” responded Bixt in near panic, as numerous red threat icons showed
up on his sensor screen. “There are too many of them!”

-

Fleet Admiral
Vickers felt grim satisfaction as his ships emerged from hyperspace within
combat range of the Profiteer and Dacroni ships. On the main viewscreens, the
images shifted to show the enemy vessels.

“Energy shield
is up, and weapons are online,” reported Andrew. “Condition One is set, and the
crew is at their battlestations.”

“Send word to
the
Hampton
and
Dallas
to disable the hyperdrives on those two
cargo ships and the four detainee ships. Rear Admiral Wilson has the go-ahead
to launch his fighters and bombers. Instruct our fighters that their first
priority is to stop any missiles aimed at Earth,” ordered Kurt, as he stared at
the tactical screen.

“Fleet is
engaging,” reported Lieutenant Lena Brooks.

“Opening
fire!” reported Lieutenant Mays with a vengeful grin on her face.

Kurt and his
crew had known many of the fleet personnel who died in the original surprise
attack. Now was payback time.

The battle to
free Earth had begun.

-

The light cruisers
Dallas
and
Hampton
closed rapidly on their unsuspecting targets.
Dark blue beams of energy shot out, as the two cruisers fired their particle
beam cannons at the hyperdrives of the two cargo ships. The beams penetrated,
tearing through the hulls and cutting holes completely through Engineering. The
power in both ships died, and they began drifting in space.

Turning to the
four detainee ships, the
Dallas
and the
Hampton
sent KEW rounds, which smashed into the hulls of two of them, as it would be forty seconds
before the particle beams cannons could be fired again. Each round penetrated
deeper and deeper into the ships’ hulls. Moments later large explosions blew apart
the engineering sections, leaving the front two-thirds of the ships intact.

The other two
detainee ships accelerated away, trying to escape; however, the particle beam
cannons were now ready to fire, and two more dark blue beams flashed out, and
both of the fleeing ships’ hyperdrives were destroyed.

-

“Both cargo
ships and all four detainee ships have been neutralized,” reported Lieutenant
Brooks. “Two of the detainee ships suffered significant damage. I think they
both lost their engineering sections.”

The
Star
Cross
shuddered violently, and red lights blinked on at the damage control
console.

“Multiple
energy beam hits to the screen,” reported Andrew, as he swiftly checked for
damage. “There was some bleed through, and we have slight damage to the outer
hull in section fourteen.”

Kurt nodded
and, reaching forward, pressed his comm button to allow ship-to-ship communication
with his two task groups. “All ships press the attack. The more we can hurt
them, the more likely it is they’ll break off and withdraw.”

A bright light
suddenly filled one of the viewscreens. “What was that?” demanded Kurt, fearing
the worst.

“The
Hampton
,” replied Lieutenant Brooks in a shaken voice. “They were too far inside
the enemy fleet formation, and two Dacroni battleships blocked her withdrawal.
The
Dallas
managed to return to its fleet position unharmed.”

-

In space, dark
blue particle beams and white energy beams fought a duel. The beams
crisscrossed each other, seeking targets to destroy. Particle beam fire from
the
Trinity
and
Carlsbad
penetrated the energy screen on a
Dacroni battleship and slammed into its armory, setting off powerful explosions
and hurling glowing debris into space. Moments later the screen failed completely,
and a hypermissile blew apart the battleship in a massive fireball.

In the human
fleet formation, one of the new battlecruisers was under heavy attack from a
Profiteer battlecruiser and two of its escort cruisers. The new battlecruiser’s
energy shield glowed brighter and brighter, as energy beams and hypermissiles
pummeled it. With a brilliant flash, the shield failed, and moments later a temporary
sun appeared where the cruiser had been. The cruiser and its human crew died
instantly.

-

“Battlecruiser
Taggart
is down,” reported Lieutenant Brooks.

“Press the
attack,” ordered Kurt resolutely, knowing more would die before this was over.
They were fighting for Earth and for their freedom. They would either win this
battle or die trying.

“Profiteer
ships are launching missiles at Earth,” warned Lieutenant Brooks in a
frightened voice, as her sensor screen suddenly blossomed with new threat
icons. “I’m picking up close to two hundred missiles, all with nuclear warheads.”

“They must
have emptied their tubes toward Earth,” muttered Andrew, his eyes filled with
worry, as he gazed at the tactical screen, now showing numerous amber icons
heading toward the planet.

“Our fighters?”
asked Kurt. He knew if the fighters could get there in time, they could shoot down
most of the missiles.

“Almost in
range. It’ll be close,” reported Andrew, as he watched the small green icons
attempting to intercept the deadly missiles.

-

In the bunker
in Canada, President Mayfield and the others huddled together in the situation room,
watching the battle in space intently.

“Admiral
Vickers has more ships,” commented Colonel Stidham in confusion.

“Yes, I was going
to tell you about that,” said General Braid with a grin. “The ships that Fleet
Admiral Vickers bought at Kubitz arrived early.”

“What ships?”
asked Stidham in confusion.

“I’ll explain
later,” Braid responded.

“We can win
this then,” Colonel Stidham said, realizing what this meant.

“Enemy missile
launch,” reported a lieutenant. “We’re detecting 182 inbounds.”

“Crap,” muttered
Raul with fear in his eyes. “Now what?”

“We try to
shoot them down,” answered General Braid calmly. “We have our fighters in the
air, and our interceptors are ready. From what I’m seeing on the tactical display,
the carriers have launched their full squadrons of Lance fighters to also
intercept the missiles. Let’s see if we can help them.”

-

All over
Earth, interceptor missiles rose from their hidden silos and accelerated toward
space. Fighters and fighter-bombers climbed to the extreme limits of their
flight capability and fired their smaller interceptors at the rapidly
descending targets. Above them in space and in the atmosphere, brief fiery explosions
of light indicated the successful interception of some of the enemy missiles.

-

In space,
Captain Craig Jenson heard his targeting computer give off a firm tone, as it
locked on a dropping alien missile. He pressed a button on his flight
controller, and a small interceptor ejected from the wing of his Lance fighter
and darted toward the enemy missile. A few seconds later, a bright fireball
indicated a successful intercept. “Got one!” he called out over his squadron’s
comm frequency. “Everyone, target those missiles. We can’t let them get
through!”

-

All around Earth,
the Profiteer nuclear missiles were blown apart. From the European Union, the
Russian Collective, and the Chinese Conglomerate, interceptor missiles and
fighters targeted the alien missiles. The nukes died by the dozens, and soon
their number had been reduced to less than forty. However, these last ones weren’t
normal missiles; at a signal from the
Ascendant Destruction
, the
remaining missiles suddenly came apart. In their places were ten small
targetable nuclear warheads, each with a ten-kiloton yield.

In desperation,
the Earth fighters tried to shoot them down; more interceptors were launched,
and even the Lance fighters came into the atmosphere, following the warheads
dangerously close to the surface. There were numerous successful intercepts,
but there were just too many warheads. Suddenly, on the surface of Earth,
mushroom clouds appeared.

-

“Nuclear
detonations detected,” reported Lieutenant Brooks, her face turning white. “I’m
picking up dozens of nuclear explosions on the surface of Earth.”