The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders (9 page)

“They are,”
answered Dolman, his brow wrinkling in a deep frown. “But this threat is not
from any of the Protector Worlds.”

“Where are
these black ships coming from?” asked Kurt. It sounded as if the situation was direr
than he had believed possible.

“We know of
them only in legends and in vague historical data from eons ago. They are known
as the Destroyers of Worlds. Every two or three million years they enter our
galaxy and destroy most of the civilized races. They cleanse all major life-forms
from the worlds they attack. Only plant life, insects, and a few microbes are
left behind.”

Kurt felt his
breath catch in his throat. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “These are
invaders from another galaxy?”

“No,” responded
Dolman, shaking his head. “We don’t have a lot of information to go on since
very few worlds survive their cleansing. Vague references state they live in
intergalactic space or are from another universe.”

Kurt felt a
chill run up and down his back. If these ships were the ones spotted in the
outer reaches of the Solar System, what exactly did it mean? Earth wasn’t
nearly as advanced as the other worlds in the galaxy.

“Why can’t
Lomatz speak of this?” asked Tenner.

“Panic,”
replied Dolman. “If word of this got out, it could crash the economy of the
Gothan Empire. Trade would stop, and even the black market would be impacted.
For now the different planetary leaders are taking a wait-and-see attitude
while building new ships and strengthening their defenses. They’re hoping the
Protector Worlds can stop the black ships.”

“And if they
can’t?” asked Andrew.

Dolman drew in
a sharp breath. “Then we’re all dead!”

Keera was
deeply concerned about what her brother had told her. She had a strong
suspicion the black ships were one of the reasons Kurt had come to Kubitz. Their
conversations had been shorter than normal on the trip from Newton to Kubitz,
as if something had been weighing heavily on his mind. When he returned to
their quarters after his meeting with Dolman and the others, he had been
strangely quiet. He hadn’t even asked about the conversation with her brother.

That next morning
over breakfast, she asked him how things were going. Kurt responded, saying, “Okay.
We’ll discuss it when I return.” Shortly after that Kurt and Andrew had gone
off with Grantz to speak to Controller Nirron about the fine and the new
contract he and Grantz were working on. With a deep sigh, Keera watched Kurt
leave, and then she settled into their quarters to wait. She knew it was best
to let Kurt work through this on his own.

The comm unit
near the wall blinked, and Keera walked over to answer it. Perhaps Kurt was calling,
and he had finished his business quicker than he thought so he could return
early. It would be nice if they could eat lunch together.

“Hello?” she said,
pressing the answer button on the comm unit.

“Sis, this is
Dalen. I think there may be a problem.”

Keera let out
a deep breath, wondering if her brother had failed to tell her something. Was
he in trouble with the Profiteers he worked for? “What is it?”

“It’s Kurt. A
bounty has been put on his head. Rumor has it that High Profiteer Creed wants
him dead.”

Keera felt a
cold chill wash over her. She forced herself to remain calm. This was Kubitz,
and such things were quite common. “How big a bounty?”

“That’s just
it,” Dalen answered. “Most bounties are around ten to twenty thousand credits
for a hit. This one is two million credits! Every bounty hunter and unemployed Profiteer
on the planet will be looking for Kurt and trying to collect. I’ve never heard
of a bounty this large before. He needs to get off Kubitz now! Hundreds of
bounty hunters and Profiteers will be hunting for him. Even some of the smaller
clans may become involved.”

Keera felt her
heart pound, and she suddenly found it hard to talk. Two million credits was a
fortune, and she knew some individuals on Kubitz would go to great lengths to
collect such a sum. “How soon can you be ready to leave?” As soon as Kurt
returned, she would beg him to board the
Star Cross
. With that large of
a bounty, not even the embassy would be safe from attack.

There was
silence on the other end of the line, and Keera thought she could hear her
brother speaking to someone. “I can be there in an hour.”

“Do it,” Keera
said. “I need to make a call and see if I can warn Kurt.”

“I hope you can,”
answered Dalen. “I’ll be on my way shortly.” With that the line went dead.

Pressing
another button on the comm unit, she was in contact with the embassy communications
operator. “I need to speak to Captain Briar immediately!”

“Just a
moment,” the communications operator responded. “I’ll put you through to his
office.”

Keera just
hoped she was in time.

-

Kurt was in
one of the Humvees going to his meeting with Nirron, the Controller who was
working on the contract to declare the area of space around Julbian of interest
to Newton. Grantz had returned earlier and reported much of the work had
already been done, and Nirron had a few questions that needed to be clarified
before the contract would be ready to be filed. Later in the day, Kurt wanted
to make arrangements for some Kubitz factory dealers to go to the
Newton
Princess
to meet with the business people waiting on board. Dolman had
mentioned several factory groups who routinely dealt in building and delivering
the automated factories Governor Spalding was interested in. These factories
were quite common on Kubitz and the rest of the Gothan Empire.

“I saved you a
lot of credits,” Grantz said haughtily. “I have proven once again how valuable
I can be.”

“We’ll see,”
said Andrew, shaking his head. “What do you do with all the credits we pay
you?”

Grantz grinned
and leaned back with a self-satisfied look on his face. “I have a reputation to
uphold. The females at the pleasure houses expect a certain flair from me. I
tell you, the women, food, and drinks at the pleasure houses are the best on
Kubitz, among other things. You should really come with me one time to see for
yourself.”

Andrew shook
his head. “I’m happily married. No way would you catch me near one of those.”

“You can skip
the women,” Grantz said, shrugging his shoulder. “Just come for the food,
drink, and the entertainment. I promise it will be an experience you will never
forget. I’ll even buy the first round of drinks.”

“No thanks,” said
Andrew, frowning at the Profiteer.

“Admiral, we
may have a problem,” Sergeant Jones said with concern in his voice. He sat in
the front passenger seat next to the corporal, who was driving. “I just
received an emergency message from Captain Briar. It seems that a bounty has
been placed on your head.”

“A bounty!”
said Andrew, his eyes widening in disbelief.

“Yes,”
Sergeant Jones replied as he unbuckled his safety harness and stepped through
the small armored hatch that separated the driving compartment from the
passenger compartment. “A warning was called in to the embassy. They’re rolling
three more Humvees to rendezvous with us and escort us back.”

“How big?” Grantz
asked Kurt. Bounties weren’t that unusual on Kubitz.

“Two million
credits.”

“Two million
credits!” roared Grantz, his eyes growing wide at the amount, his hand automatically
moving to his gun. Taking a deep breath, Grantz brought his hand back to his
side.

Andrew watched
Grantz. His hand rested on his 9 mm pistol. “Don’t get any ideas, Grantz,”
warned Andrew, tapping his pistol. “Remember who’s paying you.”

Grantz only
grinned and nodded. “I like you, Captain. You have nothing to fear from me, but
a lot of bounty hunters and hard-on-their-luck Profiteers will want to collect
that bounty. I suggest we turn around and get back to the compound where it’s
safe before we’re attacked.”

“Get us back
as quickly as possible,” Kurt ordered as he listened to Grantz.

While Kurt
still didn’t fully trust the Profiteer, Grantz was probably right about the
danger. Kurt had been through an attack on Kubitz once before and had no desire
to go through one again. The report of the bounty deeply concerned Kurt. With a
reward of that size, he wasn’t sure even the embassy compound would be safe. It
might be necessary to return to the
Star Cross
, making sure enough
people witnessed his departure so the embassy would be left alone.

“High
Profiteer Creed,” Andrew said grimly. “It has to be him. We should have killed
the son-of-a-bitch at Julbian when we had the chance.”

Kurt’s face
grew stormy. Andrew was probably right. High Profiteer Creed had to be the one
behind the bounty. They should have used the antimatter missiles at Julbian and
destroyed the
Ascendant Destruction
. Kurt wouldn’t make that mistake
again.

-

The two
Humvees were on a busy street, and it took the drivers a few moments to find a
place to safely turn around. Tall buildings surrounded them on both sides, and heavy
pedestrian traffic was on the wide sidewalks. Glaring signs advertised their
wares in the large windows, and it was a busy time of day. With some careful maneuvering,
they finally got turned around and started back. They had only gone a few
blocks when several large trucks suddenly blocked the road in front of them.
Both Humvees braked to a sudden stop.

-

“We’ve got
trouble,” Sergeant Jones said as he chambered a round into his assault rifle.
He also drew his pistol and ensured it was fully loaded. “Several trucks are
blocking the road ahead.”

“We’re blocked
from behind too,” added the driver. “With no side streets intersecting this
main road, we can’t turn off.” The driver reached between the two front seats
and picked up his assault rifle, clicking off the safety.

“Corporal Evans,
get into the turret and get the 240 ready. We may need it shortly,” ordered
Sergeant Jones.

Grantz
unbuckled the strap that held his handgun in place. “They’ll blast us from
these vehicles. They wouldn’t have blocked the street if they didn’t think they
could get to us.”

Kurt glanced
out one of the heavy bulletproof windows. “How soon before the other three
Humvees get here?” There was no way to tell what they were up against.

“I’ve already informed
them of our situation,” Jones said as he peered through the front windows of
the Humvee. “But it’ll be a while. They have some busy streets to navigate.”

The Humvee
suddenly jolted to one side as a loud explosion rang out. A huge dent appeared
on one of the armored walls, and two of the small windows cracked.

“I warned
you,” muttered Grantz as he drew his pistol.

“Where did that
explosive round come from!” yelled Jones, looking up at Corporal Evans in the turret.

“Don’t know,”
Evans grated out as he rotated the turret, looking for a target. “Too many
people are on the streets to tell.”

“Sidewalks are
clearing,” the driver reported. Out the front and side windows he could see people
running hastily toward doorways. Metal shutters were sliding down over the
exposed windows and even some of the doors.

Two more explosions
rocked the Humvee, nearly tipping it. The 240 machine gun suddenly fired in quick
short bursts.

“I’ve got two
targets inside a building doorway,” reported Evans. The machine gun fell silent.
“Both targets are down.”

Kurt looked
out the front of the Humvee just in time to see the other Humvee vanish in
flames. For a moment he thought it had exploded, but then the fire and smoke
cleared, and the Humvee reappeared, seemingly undamaged, though it was heavily scorched.
The turret on top of the Humvee swiveled to one side and returned fire at
targets behind a large truck parked on the side of the street.

“We’re pinned
down,” reported Sergeant Jones as he spoke to the Marines in the other Humvee
over his comm unit. “Large trucks block the street in front of us and behind
us. Also our assailants are using several trucks on the side of the street for
cover.”

The Humvee
shook again as another explosive round struck the armored exterior. Each time a
round struck, the Humvee rang like a giant bell.

“What are they
shooting us with?” Andrew stared at several bulges in the Humvee’s heavy armor.

“Some kind of
small rockets,” Sergeant Jones answered. “From what Corporal Richards in the
other Humvee is reporting, the damn things are being launched from behind the
trucks in front of us. We can’t get a clear shot at the launchers.”

“How many more
hits can the Humvee take?” asked Andrew, but nobody answered. “I don’t suppose
you see any Enforcers coming to our rescue?”  They never seemed to be any around
when needed.

“None in
sight,” Evans replied as he fired a short burst at an armored figure who
appeared around one of the trucks. The figure dropped to the ground and lay
there unmoving. Rounds from the M240 were deadly if they struck their target.

“How long can
we stay in the Humvees?” asked Kurt. If the attackers penetrated the vehicle’s armor,
the battle would be over. One explosive round going off inside would kill
everyone. Kurt wondered if they would stand a better chance outside.

“Depends,” replied
Sergeant Jones as he peered through one of the small cracked windows. “If these
are just bounty hunters or a small Profiteer group, we may be able to hold out
until the other Humvees get here. If we exit the vehicles, we’ll be picked off
one by one. I can’t tell how many are out there. Our best bet is to stay inside
the Humvees. At least with the M240s, we have the firepower to keep them back
and the armor provides some protection.”

Kurt worried
they might have encountered a more dangerous opponent; the attack seemed too
coordinated. “Four Dacroni battleships are in orbit. These may be mercenaries
we’re facing.”

Sergeant Jones
peered out the front windows once more. “I don’t think these are mercenaries. Mercenaries
would be equipped with more powerful weapons and would have chosen a better
location for an ambush. We’re in the open with a lot of witnesses.”

At that moment
an explosive rocket slammed into the windshield of the Humvee, shattering it
into a million pieces. The driver screamed and fell over against the door. A
jagged piece of glass had penetrated his protective chest armor. Smoke and fire
filled the driver’s compartment.

Sergeant Jones
stepped into the smoke and, leaning forward, checked the driver’s pulse.
Turning toward Kurt, he shook his head. Ducking back into the passenger
compartment, Jones slid the protective armored door shut, sealing them off from
the driver’s compartment.

“Can’t see
much now,” muttered Andrew, gripping his pistol in his right hand as he stared
out one of the small bulletproof windows. Even outside the air was full of
drifting smoke from the weapons fire.

“Corporal
Evans, keep an eye out!” ordered Sergeant Jones. “They have to force us from
the Humvees before our other vehicles get here. Also the Enforcers can’t let
this go on too long or too many eyebrows will be raised.” He could hear the
machine gun on the other Humvee firing in longer bursts.

“I’m seeing a
lot of movement,” Evans reported as he fired at several figures in body armor.
“I think they’re preparing to rush us.”

“They know
their time’s running short,” Andrew said as he pulled his pistol from its
holster.