The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders (27 page)

Kurt leaned
back, staring incredibly at Rear Admiral Wilson. “Are you telling me that we
could form an alliance with two more systems which the Profiteers don’t know anything
about?” No wonder Lomatz had hinted that Kurt would be highly pleased with what
was in the two mysterious sectors.

“It seems that
way,” Wilson replied. “I would recommend we get a diplomatic mission on the way
to both immediately.”

Kurt nodded
his agreement. “Gather all the information from the mission and condense it
into something I can show Governor Spalding. I want to move quickly on this.”

“What about
the Profiteer attack on Earth?” asked Fleet Admiral Tomalson. “With Marlen
Stroud in charge, anything could happen. I would also like to know what
happened to President Mayfield and General Braid.”

“As do I,”
Kurt responded.

He was worried
Stroud might have had them arrested or something worse. Since Stroud had taken
over the North American Union, all trade and immigration had been cut off. Still
some trade and even colonists continued to come from other countries, but the
flow had been drastically reduced compared to what it had been. Stroud had even
threatened to use his remaining warships to destroy any Newton ship that
entered the Solar System.

Kurt looked
back at Colonel Simms. “How’s progress on the new construction bay Lomatz
promised us?”

“On schedule,”
answered Simms. “Just watching how Lomatz’s people work is astonishing. They
have robots that can do about anything. I was amazed at how quickly they
finished up the station last year, but this is something else entirely. Lomatz
has offered to keep the two construction ships here permanently to help us add
anything to the station we want.”

“Any ideas?”
Kurt was curious to hear what Simms would like to see done to the shipyard.

Simms took a
deep breath and then spoke. “If this menace from the black ships is real—and, as
frightened as Lomatz seems to be, I’d say that it is—I want to add two more
repair bays. The bays will be built to handle civilian craft arriving from the Solar
System as well as elsewhere. In the future, we may have a lot of ships that
need repair work done, and we must do it as rapidly as possible. I’ve already
talked part of this over with Colonel Hayworth, and he agrees with what I’ve
outlined. There may be other recommendations later.”

Kurt looked
slowly around the group. There was another reason for this meeting, and it was
the most important one. “We have to assume the Profiteers will hit Earth within
the next month. From what we’ve been able to learn, High Profiteer Creed has
enlisted at least four other small Profiteer clans to assist him in the raid. Also
rumors on Kubitz claim that Dacroni Clan Leader Jarls will be involved as
well.”

“That’s bad,”
Rear Admiral Wilson said, his eyes narrowing sharply. “Jarls will bring
battleships, and, after what happened to him in the last battle in Earth’s solar
system, he’ll bring enough to ensure we don’t get another chance to damage his
fleet.”

“What will we
do?” asked Fleet Admiral Tomalson, shifting his gaze over to Kurt. “Even though
Marlen Stroud is the new president of the North American Union, I don’t want to
see Earth hurt more than it already is.”

Kurt looked at
Tomalson and then replied. “You will take a fleet to Proxima Centauri. That’s
close enough that our long-range hyperspace sensors will detect any ships
entering or leaving the Solar System. Your battleship, the
Retribution
,
will act as flagship and all three of your battlecruisers will go as well. In
addition, Rear Admiral Wilson will be under your command. He will have his
flagship, the heavy carrier
Kepler
, the battlecruisers
Carlsbad
and
Far Star
, the light carrier
Princeton
, as well as four light
cruisers as escorts.”

Fleet Admiral
Tomalson nodded as he thought about the firepower on the ships being placed under
his command. “What are our orders?”

“If the
Profiteers show up with a fleet too large for you to handle, send back one of
the light cruisers. Hopefully by then we’ll have the
Aurelia
up and
running.”

“You think
High Profiteer Creed will hit Earth with a massive fleet,” Tomalson said in
understanding. “That’s why you’re not sending more ships.”

Kurt nodded.
“I’m afraid so. With the potential threat from the black ships, we can’t afford
large ship losses at the moment. Lomatz has indicated it won’t be possible to
purchase additional warships from Kubitz. Everything they’re building is for
their own defense against the black ships. They’re not selling anything to
anyone.”

“When do we
leave?” asked Fleet Admiral Tomalson.

“Two days,”
Kurt replied. “Your main duty is to preserve your fleet. I know how badly we
all hate the Profiteers for what they did to Earth, but, if we fight them, I
want to be able to win, and, for that, we need the
Aurelia
.” Kurt was
determined to speak to Mara one more time. Keera was also going to meet with
her, and Kurt hoped she would have some success in encouraging Mara to help
them. If she didn’t, Kurt had one more card to play, and that one might just
work but it was one he didn’t like. If Mara continued to refuse to cooperate, she
and Tarnth would be put back in the detention cells on board the Aurelia until
the menace posed by the Profiteers and the black ships was over. Kurt had no
intention of actually doing that, but perhaps just the threat would be enough
to persuade Mara to cooperate.

-

Keera was on
board the Lakiam ship. The luxury and comfort of the ship didn’t surprise her
as she had been on Enlightened World vessels in the past while attending
medical training on the Enlightened World of Karash. She knew how Enlightened civilizations
acted, but Mara was from a Protector World, a planet thousands of years away
from achieving enlightenment.

Identifying
herself to the two Marines at the door to Mara’s quarters, Keera was allowed in,
after introducing herself to the Lakiam woman over the comm.

Stepping
inside, Keera allowed her senses to take in all the comfort and extras in the
room. A short hallway with several other open doors was to her right. Mara’s
quarters were very spacious, which Keera had expected.

Mara’s eyes
examined Keera for a moment, and then she spoke. “Why have you come? I’ve
already told your people that I will not help them until they can guarantee I
will be allowed to go home.”

Keera sat down
across from Mara, almost jumping as the chair adjusted itself to her form. She
had forgotten what real comfort was. “I’m not from here nor am I a member of
this species of humanoids. I was trained in medicine at the medical training
center on the Enlightened World of Karash.”

“But you are
not Enlightened,” Mara stated critically. “Many humanoids and members of other
species travel to the Enlightened Worlds for training.”

“Yes, that’s
true,” confessed Keera. “But the people of Newton are so different from others
I’ve met in my medical career. I worked at the Hatheen Medical Facility on
Kubitz for a number of years.”

“Kubitz!” spat
Mara, her blue eyes narrowing. “Why would you go there?”

“It offered me
the opportunity to treat members of many different humanoid races as well as
alien ones.”

“A noble
gesture,” admitted Mara, showing a little respect. “Why did you come here?”

“I met a man
who was everything I had always dreamed of. I fell in love and came here to Newton. I never expected to find such a world, where civilians don’t need a weapon to
protect themselves. The streets are safe to walk without an escort, and
children play in the yards and numerous parks in their cities. If not for the
Profiteers, the people of Newton would be a peaceful civilization.”

“The
Profiteers,” repeated Mara, frowning. “What does this have to do with the
Profiteers?”

-

For the next
hour Keera explained to Mara what the Profiteers had done to Earth and how
Fleet Admiral Vickers did everything in his power to drive them from the Solar System.
When Keera was done, Mara had a thoughtful look on her face.

“I’m willing
to admit Fleet Admiral Vickers sounds like an honest and trustworthy individual
from what you’ve just said. However, the facts are that I’m being held against
my will, and the arms dealer Lomatz is here. I don’t like that connection to
Kubitz.”

Keera took a
deep breath. “Lomatz is here because of the black ships.”

“The black
ships,” said Mara, leaning forward, wanting to hear more. “Tell me how the
black ships are involved.”

-

Several hours
later Kurt was in Mara’s quarters, ready to plead his case once more. He had
already decided, if she refused to help them, he would arrange for her safe
return to her home world.

“The
Profiteers are preparing to attack Earth,” he said without preamble. “They’ve
gathered a massive fleet to take all the planet’s wealth and kidnap a large
number of its inhabitants to be sold at the Kubitz slave markets.”

Mara stood up,
towering over Kurt. “You don’t have the ships to stop this attack?”

“I have the
ships, but I will lose many of them in the battle.” Kurt took a deep breath.
Keera had told him that she thought her conversation with Mara had been
positive. Now he just needed to build on that, perhaps it wouldn’t be necessary
to threaten Mara with detention. “If you agree to help me save my home planet
from the Profiteers, I will see to it that you’re returned to Lakiam.”

“What about
the
Aurelia
and the
Treliid
? Will you release them to me as
well?”

“I don’t
know,” Kurt answered honestly. “Everyone says the black ships are coming. The
technology on your two warships is the only chance we have of keeping our
people safe from the Destroyers of Worlds.”

“You seem to
know a lot about the black ships,” Mara commented.

“I have my
sources,” admitted Kurt. “Will you help us against the Profiteers?”

Mara looked
long and hard at Kurt. “If I agree, how do I know you’ll keep your promise to
free Tarnth and me afterward?”

“I’m the fleet
admiral, and I don’t go back on my word.”

“You’re also
the man Keera talked about earlier,” Mara said with a slow nod of her head. “I
can see why she feels as she does.” Mara leaned back in her chair, her eyes
focused on Kurt. “Have your people ready in the morning. I’ll speak to Tarnth,
and we’ll show you how to operate the
Aurelia
.”

“What about
the
Treliid
?”

“No,” replied
Mara, shaking her head. “It will take both Tarnth and myself just to make the
Aurelia
ready for combat.”

Kurt nodded.
“If we’re successful in defeating the Profiteers, I’ll send you back home as
soon as we return to Newton.”

“We’ll be
successful,” replied Mara confidently. “There’s a reason why the Gothan Empire
doesn’t risk offending any of the Protector Worlds. You will find that out when
we engage High Profiteer Creed.”

Kurt stood up,
preparing to leave. “I’m truly sorry about what happened to you. I’ll do
everything in my power to get you home. You have my word on that.”

As Kurt left
Mara’s quarters, he felt excited. In a few days the
Aurelia
would become
part of his fleet. When Profiteer Creed attacked, Kurt would use the Lakiam
battlecruiser to ensure the hated Profiteer never left the Solar System but
would instead die there.

High Profiteer
Creed watched the ship’s viewscreen as more Profiteer vessels arrived. The
latest was High Profiteer Mott, who had brought twelve ships. Creed looked
jealously at one of the screens showing Mott’s flagship, the
Jablan
—a fully
updated battleship.

“That’s
everyone except Dacroni Clan Leader Jarls,” reported Second Profiteer Lantz.

Creed knew
Lantz was impatient to get underway. The sooner they replaced the fleet’s gold
reserves, the sooner Lantz could return to the pleasure houses. He had already
mentioned the girls he would miss while he was on this Earth raid.

Creed turned
away from the viewscreens. “Jarls should be here shortly. How many cargo ship
and detainee ships do we have?” All four of the other clans had brought vessels
to haul plunder from Earth.

“Thirty-four
cargo ships and eighteen detainee ships,” replied Lantz as he checked a data
screen.

Creed was
satisfied with that number. “We’ll form all the noncombat ships up into one
fleet with a few escort cruisers to keep them safe.”

Alarms sounded,
and lights flashed. Creed’s eyes instantly went to the sensor console.

“Contacts!”
called out Third Profiteer Bixt as his sensors detected the arrival of more
ships. Then in a calmer voice, he said, “It’s Clan Leader Jarls.”

High Profiteer
Creed shifted his gaze to the tactical display as large green icons
representing the Dacroni mercenaries’ ships appeared.

“Twenty-eight
battleships and four cargo ships,” Lantz said with satisfaction. “That should
be enough to ensure Fleet Admiral Vickers stays far away.”

The Dacroni
had the most powerful battleships in the empire. Just having Clan Leader Jarls
on the raid greatly enhanced the success of the venture.

As Creed gazed
at the numerous green icons on the tactical screen, he felt pleased with the
fleet he had assembled. Overall he had twenty-nine battleships, twenty-four
battlecruisers, and forty-five escort cruisers. That was far more vessels than
Fleet Admiral Vickers had in his entire fleet, and, with a solid core of
twenty-nine battleships, Creed could handle anything Vickers might throw at
him. Already Creed could feel the riches piling up that he was about to loot
from Earth. He would become one of the richest Profiteers on Marsten, and his
exploits would be talked about for generations.

“Clan Leader
Jarls says he’s ready to depart,” Third Profiteer Lukon reported from
Communications.

Looking back
at the tactical display, Creed noted all the green icons. This was by far the
largest fleet he had ever commanded. If his spies on Earth had furnished him
with the correct information, the planet had far more gold still on it than he
had imagined possible. Hell, when he got back from the raid, he might just buy
Kubitz itself!

Activating his
ship-to-ship comm, he spoke. “All ships, this is High Profiteer Creed. In ten
minutes we will depart for Earth. This raid will go down in Profiteer history
as the richest one ever recorded. Prepare to fill your cargo ships with gold,
your detainee ships with nubile women and sturdy workers.” Creed felt elated.
Soon he would be back at Earth, and, if Fleet Admiral Vickers got there in
time, Creed would ensure the upstart Human admiral died there.

-

Ten minutes
passed, and then the combined fleet jumped into hyperspace. The raid had begun to
strip Earth of its wealth and to capture countless numbers of its citizens to
be sold at the Kubitz slave auctions.

-

Ten thousand light-years
away, Prince Brollen felt elated at the success of his mission so far. Six food
worlds had been harvested with no losses to his fleet. In all six harvests they
had only encountered light resistance from the defensive grids, which protected
the planets. The fleets of warships that had once attempted to block the
harvest had disappeared.

Hyperspace
dropout in two minutes
, Military Commander Mardok reported, standing in
front of the ship’s long-range sensor display. He was looking for any threats
ahead in the system they were fast approaching.
The sensors are not picking
up any enemy warships
.

Excellent
,
sent Prince Brollen.

If they could
harvest four more food worlds, the storage facilities on all three motherships
would be full, and then they could journey back to the system where the
Collector Ships waited. He doubted if the other harvesting fleets had been as
successful. His earlier food-collecting survey had indicated where the richest
harvest areas were located in Galaxy X241, and these areas he had targeted.

-

Fleet
Commodore Dreen—formerly Captain Dreen—of the Lakiam battlecruiser
Basera
watched his tactical screen nervously. He had been promoted to this new rank
due to the number of warships now under his command.

“Estimated
time for black fleet emergence from hyperspace is two minutes, twenty seconds,”
reported Sensor Operator Laylem.

They’d found a
way to track the black ships while they were in hyperspace. Lakiam hyperspace
scientists had discovered a particularly unique energy signature given off by a
ship’s hyperdrive was impossible to mask. The sensors on all Lakiam ships had
been recalibrated to note that particular energy.

“Can we detect
the use of their subspace drives?” Dreen hoped so as it would allow them to
track the black ships’ movements throughout the system.

“Unknown,”
replied Laylem, shifting his eyes from his console to the commodore. “Our
scientists have programmed our sensors to look for several different types of
radiation which the drives may give off. We won’t know until they arrive.”

Fleet
Commodore Dreen leaned back in his command chair. They were risking a lot on
this mission. Around the
Basera
were 1,400 Lakiam battlecruisers. This
was by far the largest fleet Lakiam had ever assembled for a single mission. The
ships had been pulled away from their defensive responsibilities in several
Enlightened World systems to ensure Dreen had enough warships. Currently all
the ships were stealthed and hidden behind a large gas giant, which should make
it impossible for the black ships to detect them until it was too late.

“Has the
warning been transmitted to Kanop?”

Kanop was the
single Enlightened World colony in the system. The Kanop System had seven
planets with planet number two being inhabited. Planets five, six, and seven
were all gas giants, and Fleet Commodore Dreen had his fleet hidden behind
number six.

“Yes, sir,”
replied Sheera. “I transmitted a warning as soon as we confirmed we were
expecting the black fleet.”

Dreen looked
back at the nearest tactical display. On the surface of the planet, every ship
that could hold passengers was rapidly being filled. As soon as the black fleet
dropped from hyperspace, a mass exodus would occur across the system as every
hyperspace-capable vessel fled.

“What’s the
status of our weapons?”

“All ships
have full loads of dark matter missiles,” confirmed Alborg from Tactical. “We
have 40 percent of all the dark matter missiles Lakiam has produced in recent
years. The rest are on ships protecting our primary worlds.”

Commodore
Dreen studied one of the main viewscreens on the curved front wall of the Command Center. A massive world of swirling clouds and vicious storms covered the screen.
Dreen knew from earlier scans that the wind speeds in some of those storms
exceeded six hundred kilometers per hour, strong enough that, if a man were
standing on the surface and was struck by winds of that speed, he would die
instantly. Even as Dreen watched, jagged bolts of lightning flashed between the
swirling cloud layers.

“Contacts!”
called out Laylem as glaring red threat icons appeared in one of the tactical
displays. The black ships had been picked up visually by recon drones, which
had been deployed earlier by several of the Lakiam battlecruisers.

“Numbers and
types?” Dreen already knew the approximate number from the long-range sensors,
but the types of ships were unknown.

“Three
motherships and six hundred and four cruisers,” reported Laylem.

“Three
motherships,” muttered Alborg, his eyes widening. “Think of how many
Enlightened Worlds inhabitants will die to serve as food in order to fill those
three ships.”

Dreen shook
his head. “More than I want to think about. We know this fleet has already
attacked four Enlightened World colonies and possibly others.” These attacks had
led to Fleet Commodore Dreen coming to the Kanop System. His ship’s computer
had predicted Kanop was the next most likely target.

“The black
fleet has activated their subspace drives and are inbound toward Kanop,”
reported Laylem as a warning alarm sounded. “Our sensors have detected and I
have confirmed subspace contacts on one of the radiation bands.”

“Excellent.”
This was good news, as it would now be possible to detect the black ships both
in hyperspace and normal space. One of their big advantages had just been taken
away. “How soon before they reach Kanop?”

“Three hours,”
Laylem answered as he checked one of his data screens.

Dreen studied
the tactical display for several moments. “When will they reach their closest
approach to us?”

“Sixty-two
minutes.”

“Jalad, plot a
short hyperspace jump that will put us just behind the black fleet as it
passes. We’ll jump in and hit them with our dark matter missiles before they
even know we’re here.”

“Plotting
jump,” responded Jalad as he got busy on his navigation computer.

-

Prince Brollen
focused his multifaceted eyes on the tactical displays. Numerous ships rose from
the second planet, making the jump into hyperspace.
In the future we should
exit a portion of our fleet nearer the planet to prevent so many of the food
species from escaping
.

It is only
a small fraction
, pointed out Military Commander Mardok with a clear
thought.
Estimates indicate that, in any system, there are not enough ships
for more than 1 percent of the species to escape
.

Perhaps it
is best
, Prince Brollen sent.
They can colonize other food worlds, and
someday, when we return, they will be ready to be harvested
.

Both Scythe
and Hetel report ready to harvest
, one of the other Vorn in the Command Center reported.

Sensors
indicate a moderate-size defensive grid around the planet
, added Mardok.
It
is not strong enough to cause us any problems
.

Assign
enough cruisers to ensure its destruction as well as any other orbital
structures
, ordered Prince Brollen.
I am anxious to complete the harvest
of this system and then move on to the next. I want the food from our ships to
be what the Hive Queens taste next
.

It will be
done
, promised Mardok.

-

“Five minutes
to closest approach,” Laylem reported as the black fleet steadily drew nearer
to the gas giant. The fleet would pass the planet by many millions of
kilometers, which allowed the Lakiam fleet to stay hidden until the last
possible moment.

“All ships,
set Alert Condition One,” ordered Fleet Commodore Dreen. The fleet was already
at Condition Two; the setting of Condition One was only a formality.

“All ships
report ready for combat,” said Sheera as ships across the fleet complied.

“Black matter
warheads are loaded in all missile tubes,” added Alborg. “Ten of our warships
will target just one black ship with all their missiles. If our data from the
battle at Visth Prime is accurate, ten ships launching all their dark matter
missiles simultaneously should overload the energy retention ability of the
enemies’ screens, collapsing them.”

“Two minutes
to closest approach,” reported Laylem as he watched his sensors intently.

“I want to hit
them with two full barrages of missiles before they can react,” ordered Dreen.
“We can’t let them launch their dark antimatter spheres, or the battle will be
lost. Once the second wave of missiles has been fired, I want to jump out of
combat range of the black ships. We will then reassess our strategy before
engaging them again.” Dreen could sense the heightened tension in the Command Center. He could even feel his heart start to beat faster.

“One minute to
closest approach,” reported Laylem calmly.

“All ships are
ready to make the jump into hyperspace,” added Jalad. The final seconds sped by,
and Jalad reached out on his control console, depressing a flashing yellow
button.

Fleet
Commodore Dreen felt a slight dizziness as the
Basera
made the short
hyperspace jump. It seemed as if only a second passed before the viewscreen
stabilized and the tactical display updated.

“Target lock!”
cried out Alborg as he launched all twelve of the black matter missiles in the
Basera
’s
missile tubes.

Fleet
Commodore Dreen clenched his fists as he gazed expectantly at the viewscreens.
This was it. The dark matter missiles just had to work, or the galaxy was
doomed. Leaning forward in his command chair, he stared anxiously at the
viewscreen, showing one of the targeted black ships.

-

Alarms wailed
loudly in the Command Center of the
Reaper
as one of the tactical
displays filled with deadly red threat icons, all behind the fleet!

Who are
they and how many
? demanded Prince Brollen with a piercing thought, his
antennas waving widely.

Food
species 236
, Military Commander Mardok sent back as he frantically
transmitted new orders telepathically to the fleet ships.
They have the dark
matter weapons!