The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders (5 page)

-

A few days
later, Kurt was on Newton Station, preparing to leave for Kubitz. He was
meeting with Colonel Hayworth, who was in charge of ship construction on the
shipyard, and Colonel Simms, the commanding officer. They stood in one of the
station’s two construction bays, watching the construction of a new light
carrier.

“That’s the
Ticonderoga
,” Hayworth said with a pleased smile. “In two more months she’ll be
ready to put into space.”

Kurt watched
as small construction robots scurried around the framework of the vessel. The
robots had been purchased from Lomatz, the Kubitz weapons dealer, and were
worth their weight in gold. Of course gold was how Newton had paid for them.

“She’ll need a
commanding officer,” commented Colonel Simms, as he shifted his gaze away from
the ship. Several of the small robots were welding, and the bright arcs hurt his
eyes to watch.

“I have someone
in mind,” Kurt answered. “Several of the light cruiser captains are in line for
a larger command. Captain Bridget Marsh of the
Dallas
would make an
excellent commanding officer for the
Ticonderoga
.”

“I agree,”
responded Colonel Hayworth. “She’s a fine officer.”

Kurt paused
and then focused his attention on Colonel Simms. “What about the fleet tugs?”

“They left
this morning with the
Vindication
as scheduled,” Simms reported. “They’ll
bring back those two big Profiteer cargo ships first, as well as their captured
crews. When will you send them back to Kubitz?”

“Shortly,”
Kurt replied. “We’ll interrogate a few of the officers and then negotiate their
return with the Marsten Profiteers.”

Simms nodded. That
was how things were done on Kubitz.

“What are the
plans for the big cargo ships?” asked Kurt. The two ships were each nearly one
thousand meters in length, larger than the
Star Cross
.

“Governor
Spalding wants them converted to passenger liners to bring more colonists from
Earth,” replied Hayworth. “It should take about two months to change them over.”

The construction
and repair bays on the shipyard had been modernized by Kubitz technology with many
of the processes now done by robotics. Ship construction and repair times had
been decreased by nearly 70 percent due to these new technologies.

“I think the
governor is worried about this next election,” commented Kurt with a grim look.
“We may find the next president of the North American Union won’t be quite as
sympathetic toward Newton as Mayfield is.”

“How will that
work?” asked Simms, cocking his eyebrow. “We’re technically a part of the North
American Union. We have to do what they ask now that the Profiteers have been
driven from the Solar System.”

“Independence,” answered Kurt softly as he glanced around, making sure no one else
overheard. “Mayfield will grant it by executive order in the next few weeks.”

“Wow!”
exclaimed Hayworth, his eyes opening wide in surprise. “That will cause quite a
commotion when it’s announced. A lot of people on Earth won’t like it.”

“How will he
do it?” asked Colonel Simms, sounding confused. “I didn’t think he had the
authority without the approval of the Cabinet.”

“The North
American Union, as well as most of the world, is still under a state of
emergency. That gives Mayfield the authority. Of course there’s the danger they
may impeach him after he signs the executive order. Governor Spalding will then
make an announcement on all video and comm channels to everyone on Newton, informing them of our independence. Once that’s done, we’ll formally open
embassies in the European Union, the Russian Collective, and Chinese
Conglomerate. Work is already underway for that to happen within a few days of President
Mayfield signing the proclamation. We have some trade deals we’ll sign with all
three which will ensure they support us in case the North American Union
attempts to change its mind about our independence at a later date.”

“Mayfield’s
playing with fire,” said Simms, shaking his head. “I just hope he knows what
he’s doing.”

“So do I,” answered
Kurt.

Thankfully Newton was self-supporting and didn’t need supplies from Earth to exist, he thought. Of
course trade with the North American Union was a good thing, and he would hate
to see it come to an end. Just another reason for signing the other trade
deals. At the moment Newton had the only access to the Gothan Empire and the
technology that could be purchased there. Earth had been cautioned about going to
Kubitz, but some very stubborn and greedy people on the planet might not
listen.

Twelve
thousand light-years from the Gothan Empire, the Lakiam battlecruiser
Aurelia
dropped from hyperspace. Around it 112 more battlecruisers appeared in a tight
defensive formation. All the ships were armed with the most advanced weapons
known to the Protector Worlds.

“Status?”
asked Captain Veer as he gazed calmly at the viewscreens surrounding the Command Center on all sides.

Six other
Lakiams sat in front of control consoles. More were in key sections of the ship
such as Engineering. Overall only forty-seven Lakiams were on board the 1,700-meter-long
vessel. The ship was highly automated and used advanced repair robots to
perform maintenance and emergency repairs. The ship also possessed a supply of
specialized nanites to repair breaches in the hull in case of major damage to
the ship.

“All comm
channels are silent,” reported Mara from Communications. Mara was a highly
specialized communications officer. She was also a very stunning looking woman.

“Sensors?”

“Picking up
some debris around the fifth planet,” answered Sensor Operator Baryon. “Most
likely ship remains. Also several space stations should be in orbit, and the
sensors are indicating two massive debris fields in their locations.”

Captain Veer
frowned upon hearing this. The fifth planet was a colony world of the Visth
race. They were an Enlightened nonhumanoid species controlling over two hundred
star systems with eighty-six inhabited worlds and moons. They possessed no
warships other than light automated intersystem patrol ships to keep pirates at
bay. They depended solely on the Lakiams for the defense of their worlds. In
return, the Visths furnished the Lakiams with certain types of advanced
technology. The Visths themselves were a catlike species who walked erect and
had endured over two hundred thousand years of peace. The relationship between
the Visths and the Lakiams had been very cordial for generations with the Visth
worlds working to uplift the Lakiam worlds to Enlightened status.

“No sign of
unknown ships?” demanded Captain Veer. Someone had destroyed the ships and
stations around Galian Five, and he wanted to know who was responsible. Attacking
an Enlightened World brought serious consequences.

In recent
months a number of colony worlds of Enlightened civilizations had been hit by
an unknown enemy. At first it was theorized the Profiteers from the Gothan
Empire were most likely behind these horrendous attacks, but the technology
used against the Enlightened Worlds seemed to cast that theory into serious
doubt. Reports of colonies stripped of all life and cities burned to ashes
spread across the galaxy. Captain Veer had thought the reports to be
exaggerated, and now this unknown enemy had struck one of the worlds the Lakiams
were sworn to protect. He was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

“Nothing,”
reported Sensor Operator Baryon. “I’m scanning everything out to fifteen light-years
and I can find no unknown contacts. I am detecting a few cargo ships and some
passenger liners on the normal interstellar routes, but none heading away from
this system or coming toward it.”

Captain Veer
shifted his eyes toward the ship’s primary viewscreen. Veer was quite normal
for a Lakiam at nearly seven feet tall and having bright blue eyes, golden
hair, and a slim stature. His arms were double-jointed with long nimble fingers
on his hands.

“Inform all
ships to go to Alert Status One. Something about this just isn’t right. This is
a very heavily traveled star system, and some cargo ships or passenger liners should
have survived the attack. Also several large mining operations are on the moons
of planet seven.”

“There has
been no response from them either,” Mara answered. “I have already tried
contacting them.”

“I’m not
detecting any power readings at the sites of the mines,” added Sensor Operator Baryon.
“I should be able to detect the power for the life support systems at a
minimum, but the sensors are showing a lack of any signs of artificial energy.”

Veer didn’t
like the sound of this. “Helm, take us into orbit around Galian Five so we can
scan the surface for survivors.”

Veer knew
Galian Five had a population of nearly 230 million Visth. Surely some had
survived and could tell him what happened. He was fully confident his fleet could
deal with any adversaries who might still be in the system, though the ship’s
scanners indicated that whoever attacked Galian Five had long since departed.
If they were still in the system, they would show up on the
Aurelia
’s sensitive
sensor scans.

“The Andocks
supposedly lost a number of their warships to these mysterious attackers,”
commented Tarnth from Tactical.

The Andocks
were another Protector World with highly advanced warships. They too had a
number of Enlightened Worlds they provided a protective service to for access
to certain advanced technology.

“The Andocks probably
lied about their ships being destroyed,” Veer said dismissively. “They don’t
want to admit their ships are not as highly advanced as ours.” The Andocks were
not quite as far along on the path of enlightenment as the Lakiams.

On the primary
viewscreen, the blue-white world of Galian Five rapidly grew larger, only it
was not as blue-white as it once had been. Dark clouds of red and brown blotted
out the surface over many parts of the planet.

“Where are the
major population centers?” demanded Captain Veer, leaning forward in his well-cushioned
command chair. He was deeply concerned by what he was seeing on the viewscreen.

“They’re
beneath the dark areas you see on the screen,” reported Sensor Operator Baryon.
He increased the magnification on the screen and one of the red and brown
clouds was greatly expanded. It was still impenetrable and nothing beneath it
was visible.

Veer took a
deep breath and shifted his attention to Baryon. “Are we close enough to scan
the surface for survivors?” The ship had highly sophisticated scanning equipment,
which could detect traces of organic life from several million kilometers.

“Yes,” Sensor Operator
Baryon replied as he activated the advanced sensors. After a few moments he
frowned and, reaching out his right hand, touched several glowing icons on one
of his sensor screens. Then he slowly turned toward Captain Veer with a
confused look on his face. “I don’t understand this. The sensors are not
picking up any traces of major organics. They’re picking up plant life, insect
life, and other simple organisms but nothing else.”

“You mean not
a single Visth is alive on the planet?” Captain Veer asked incredulously. The
attack had only occurred six hours previously! That was when they received the first
and only distress call from the planet.

“Not only are the
Visth missing but there’s no trace of any type of large organic life upon the
planet or in the oceans.”

Captain Veer
looked sharply at the sensor operator. “How is that possible?”

Baryon only
shook his head. “Unknown. I know of no weapon or scientific development that
could eradicate all major life-forms upon a planet in such a short time.”

“Keep
scanning,” ordered Veer, as he took this data to mind. This unknown threat was
turning out to be more dangerous than he had originally thought.

-

The
Aurelia
and her attending fleet slid into orbit 1,400 kilometers above the stricken
planet. Sensor scans from all 113 Lakiam ships had failed to detect how all major
life-forms upon the planet could have been so efficiently annihilated. No birds
flew in the air or fish swam in the planet’s large oceans.

Around the
planet was the wreckage of dozens of cargo and passenger ships as well as the
large space habitats that had once orbited Galian Five. The only things still
intact were hundreds of small satellites, which aided in communication as well
as control of the planet’s weather.

-

“Captain, the
system’s primary FTL station has also been confirmed as destroyed,” reported Sensor
Operator Baryon. The FTL station had been an 1,100-hundred-meter-long station
that received and sent all FTL messages. “Only a field of drifting debris remains
where the station resided.”

Captain Veer
looked carefully at each of the large viewscreens in the Command Center. Each showed debris from destroyed ships or stations while the primary viewscreen was
focused on the planet. It was unfathomable to him how any civilization could
even contemplate doing this to Galian Five. It was barbaric beyond belief.

“Are we
detecting signs of explosive damage at the sites of the larger cities?”
Somewhere there had to be a clue as to who had committed this atrocity.

“They were
definitely hit with something,” answered Sensor Operator Baryon. “It wasn’t
nuclear or antimatter, though the damage is very similar to an antimatter
detonation.”

This greatly
concerned Veer. It seemed to indicate an unknown weapon of vast power. “Not
kinetics?” A large kinetic strike could cause as much damage as a nuke or small
antimatter explosion.

“No,” replied Sensor
Operator Baryon, shaking his head. “The damage is widespread, but there’s no
sign of a blast crater. It’s as if the released energy was spread out equally
across a large area of the stricken cities. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Captain,”
called out Mara from Communications with alarm in her voice. “The
Treliid
reports a possible contact coming around the planet.”

“Put it on the
primary viewscreen,” ordered Captain Veer. Perhaps now they would know who had
attacked the planet. He was anxious to see who this enemy was.

On the
viewscreen, a massive black ship appeared, in the shape of two enormous globes
connected to one another by a short cylinder.

“How big is
that thing?” demanded Veer. It was by far the largest ship he had ever seen
outside of one of the old colony transport ships.

“Each of those
globes is two thousand meters, and the cylinder connecting the two is four
hundred meters long and three hundred in diameter,” reported Baryon, as he
studied his sensor data. “That ship doesn’t match anything in our records.”

“The ancient Destroyers
of Worlds,” muttered Tarnth from Tactical, his face turning pale.

“What do you
mean?” asked Veer, confused, a chill running down his back. He had never heard
of this. “Who are these Destroyers of Worlds?”

Tarnth turned
to the captain. “An ancient legend on some of the older Enlightened Worlds
describe such ships. They come from the depths of intergalactic space every few
million years and prey upon the civilizations of our galaxy. They feed upon
life, all forms of life, particularly the higher ones. It’s as if they find the
Enlightened races a delicacy. They wait between attacks to allow such worlds to
develop and then come to reap their harvest. They only leave death and
destruction behind them.”

“I don’t
believe in legends,” stated Veer, shaking his head in skepticism. “It’s obvious
to me some world has built a giant warship to raid the Enlightened Worlds. It’s
our sworn duty to protect them. This could all be a ruse by the Gothan Empire
and the Profiteers to steal high technology such as what Galian Five possessed.”

The trade of
such technology was prohibited to any civilization below a certain level of
development. Veer knew that none of the worlds within the Gothan Empire could
qualify. Perhaps they had resorted to building this new raider, which no one
would recognize, in an attempt to circumvent the prohibition.

Tarnth looked
with deep concern at the captain. “The ancient legends claim that all attempts
to resist the Destroyers of Worlds failed. If we attack, our ships will be
destroyed.”

Captain Veer
remained silent as he contemplated Tarnth’s words and then finally spoke. “Do
you need to be relieved from your duties?”

“No,” answered
Tarnth, turning back toward his console. “I will do what is necessary and hope
I am wrong.”

“Mara, hail
that ship, and demand they power down and prepare to be boarded.” All Lakiam
ships had military combat robots on board. They were equipped with heavy
stunners as well as a small energy beam cannons. Lakiams themselves had not
engaged in individual armed combat in generations as part of their advancement
toward the first stage of becoming an Enlightened World. Only a few members of
the Lakiam race were still aggressive enough to operate their large fleet of
warships.

After a few
moments Mara turned toward the captain with a look of concern in her deep blue
eyes. “There is no response. I’ve tried all communication frequencies.”

“Captain, more
ships are coming around the planet,” reported Tarnth, gesturing toward one of
the viewscreens. A dozen black spindle-shaped ships were now visible.

“What do our
sensor readings say about their power output?” asked Captain Veer.

“I don’t
understand,” replied Baryon, his eyes showing great confusion. “Those ships do
not show up on my sensors.”

Captain Veer
turned toward Baryon, his eyes narrowing sharply. “What do you mean, they’re
not showing up on your sensors? We can see them on the viewscreen.” The sensors
on the
Aurelia
were some of the most advanced known to science. Nothing
should be impervious to their scans.

Sensor Operator
Baryon shook his head. “Something is interfering with our sensors. It could be
some sensor-dampening field generated by the black ships.”

A prickling
sensation of impending danger suddenly spread across Veer’s neck. “Switch the
viewscreens to show views around our fleet! If their ships are impervious to
our scans, there could be more of them out there. Order our other ships to do
the same.”

All the main
viewscreens except the primary one changed to show different aspects of the
space around the fleet. On nearly every screen, black ships could be seen
rapidly closing with the Lakiam fleet formation. They had fallen into a trap!