The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders (13 page)

Looking out the
viewport, he could see Earth. In some areas black burn marks indicated where
nuclear weapons had detonated. A large portion of the population now believed
the entire situation with the Profiteers had been grossly mishandled. Of course
a lot of that was due to the propaganda Marlen Stroud and his cronies were
spreading. Every media station spouted more and more of Stroud’s carefully
orchestrated lies every day. President Mayfield had made several attempts to
correct the misinformation, but the public had rejected his explanations. They
wanted a scapegoat to blame for what had happened to them, and the president
and Fleet Admiral Vickers were it.

Tomalson was
greatly concerned about what would happen after the next election. The
Profiteers were still a threat, and Tomalson strongly suspected the
unidentified contacts his ships had detected on the Solar System’s periphery
belonged to the Profiteers. It had been a mistake to move all the gold and
other valuable metals from Newton back to Earth.

Tomalson had secretly
used some connections he had in the various Earth governments, so he knew where
much of the returned gold was hidden. He had already decided, if the Profiteers
returned before the election, Tomalson would arrange for much of the gold to be
seized and returned to Newton. After the election, he suspected he would be
powerless to do anything. One other thing he had decided: if President Mayfield
lost the election, he was moving to Newton.

-

Back on Earth,
President Mayfield was examining some photos General Braid had furnished him of
the damage done in the nuclear attacks, along with reports on how long it would
take to rebuild the affected cities. None of the news was good. His Cabinet,
led by Marlen Stroud, obstructed nearly every measure Mayfield put forward to
aid in the reconstruction. The explanation used by Stroud was that the country
had lost so much of its wealth to the Profiteers and by the wild spending of
Fleet Admiral Vickers that there wasn’t enough money to spend on everything
that needed to be done. Stroud had suggested they only do a few projects at a
time and only those that showed a potential good rate of return. Strangely
enough, it seemed any project applied for by a company or associate of Stroud’s
was quickly approved.

With a deep sigh,
President Mayfield stood up and walked to the large window. The sun would soon
be setting, and the construction lights throughout the city would be turned on.
Work to restore the capital was going on around the clock. In the distance, he
could see a dusty haze in the air. Much of this was caused by the total lack of
vegetation across the countryside for miles around the capital. Plans were being
made to restore the ground cover and even plant new trees in the spring. Regardless
there was so much to do that Mayfield doubted it would ever look as it once
did.

Looking upward,
he didn’t see any stars; it was still too early, but he knew in which direction
Newton was. The colony was like a bright beacon on the horizon—the future and
the only hope for Earth’s eventual salvation.

-

Fleet Admiral
Kurt Vickers breathed a sigh of relief as the fleet dropped from hyperspace into
the Newton System.

“Receiving
standard challenge,” reported Lieutenant Brenda Pierce as her communications
console lit up with the incoming message.

“Acknowledge
it and inform Newton Station we’ll be there in about two hours,” Kurt ordered.

Twenty
hyperspace detection buoys orbited the Newton System. Each could detect a
vessel approaching in hyperspace out to a range of five light-years. Newton
Station kept a close watch on the long-range sensors, and a small, fast
response fleet was always ready to move out and challenge any unknown contact.

As soon as
they arrived at the station, Kurt had a few things he needed to take care of,
and then he planned to take a shuttle to brief Governor Spalding on what he had
learned at Kubitz. The situation they now found themselves in was
disheartening. Kurt had thought Newton safe against any attack with the
defenses they had installed. However, with the potential threat of the black
ships, that might no longer be true.

-

Two hours
later the
Star Cross
docked at Newton Station, along with the
Newton
Princess
. Entering the station, Kurt was pleased to see Keera, Dalen,
Meesa, and especially Andrew, who was walking a little tenderly, but he looked
much better than the last time Kurt had seen him.

“What are the
plans?” asked Andrew.

Kurt knew Andrew
was anxious to take a shuttle to the planet to see his wife and daughter. Emily
would be quite upset when she learned he’d been shot—a near-death event. A few
inches to the right and he would have died in the Humvee.

“I’ll meet
with Governor Spalding and report on our mission, and then I’m taking a few
days off.” Kurt wanted to get away from fleet business to allow his head to ponder
what he had learned on Kubitz. “All the ships’ crews who went with us will get
a two-week leave.”

“So I get you
for two weeks?” asked Keera, obviously not believing what she heard. She
grinned and reached out, taking Kurt’s hand and squeezing it.

“For most of
it,” replied Kurt, smiling. “We need to get Dalen and Meesa settled in, and I
have a few other things to take care of, but, for the most part, I’ll just hang
around our apartment and take it easy.”

Keera nodded.
“As soon as we get to Newton, I’ll call your sister and tell her what you said.
I’m sure Bryan will make some plans for the two of you.” Keera knew Denise
would ensure Kurt actually took the time off and didn’t end up working.

“Bryan?” asked Dalen, looking confused. “Who’s Bryan?”

Keera grinned.
“He’s Kurt’s eight-year-old nephew, and he’s quite a handful.”

“Children!”
Meesa said, her eyes brightening. “I’ve always had a way with children.” She focused
on Dalen meaningfully.

Dalen glanced
away, refusing to meet her eyes.

“Maybe you’ll
both meet him later,” Keera said. “Right now let’s arrange for a shuttle to Newton. We need to get the two of you registered with the colonization department. I
suspect Kurt will meet with the station’s commander before coming to the
planet.”

Kurt looked at
Keera; she knew him so well. “Yes, I want to speak with both Colonel Hayworth
and Colonel Simms about a few things. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or
two.”

“Call me when
you reach the spaceport,” said Keera, releasing Kurt’s hand. “If we have time,
I would like for us all to go out to eat together tonight. It would be a good
way to introduce Dalen and Meesa to Newton.”

“I will,” promised
Kurt, leaning forward and kissing Keera on the lips. “I’ll see all of you
later.” With that Kurt turned and hurried off. He had sent a message earlier to
Colonel Hayworth and Colonel Simms, informing them that he wanted to meet with them
immediately.

“Is he always
so busy?” asked Meesa, watching Kurt enter a turbolift and quickly disappear
from view. “How do you ever find time to be alone with each other?”

Keera smiled.
“Most of the time he’s busy, but he does work in time for the two of us. Now
let’s get down to Newton. A lot of surprises await you.”

-

Colonel
Hayworth and Colonel Simms just stared at Kurt as if they couldn’t believe what
they had just heard.

“Ships from
another universe?” blurted out Colonel Hayworth, his eyes wide in shock. “How’s
that possible?”

“A damn black
hole?” muttered Colonel Simms, shaking his head. “I’ve heard a few theories
that, if you enter a singularity at the center of a black hole, you can traverse
the wormhole safely if its exit point is a white hole. Theoretically it can transport
you vast distances across space and even into other bubble universes. It’s also
conceivable that, by traveling through such a wormhole, time could be
affected.”

Hayworth shook
his head, his face turning pale. “This sounds like someone’s worst nightmare.
How certain are we these black ships really exist and it’s not a Profiteer trick
to get more credits from us?”

Colonel Simms
stood up and activated one of the viewscreens in the conference room, checking
one of the sixteen Class Two Orbital Defense Platforms. The platform was one
hundred meters across and twenty meters thick. On top sat a massive ion cannon,
four large energy projectors, and eight smaller defensive energy turrets. Each
of four missile pods contained six hypermissiles with an automatic reloading
system. Everything was computer-controlled, and a crew of six could operate the
entire platform. However, the living quarters were set up to hold a crew of
twenty to allow for routine maintenance and crew rotation in the small Command
and Control Center. The platform was protected by a very powerful energy
screen.

“So you’re
telling us that not even one of these can stop one of the black ships?

“We don’t
know,” answered Kurt, gazing at the powerful defensive station on the
viewscreen. This was one of the reasons he’d felt Newton was safe.

Colonel Hayworth
stood up and walked to the viewscreen with his hands clasped behind his back.
He spent a moment staring at the defensive station and then turned toward Kurt.
“What would happen if the black ships attacked Newton?”

Kurt’s face
took on a somber look. “They’ve reportedly attacked a number of Enlightened World
colonies. In several instance ships from the Protector Worlds have engaged the
black ships. In every instance, the Protector World fleets have been wiped out.
We don’t know what type of weapons the black ships possess or even what they
look like, other than a few vague descriptions.”

“But a race that
attacks every two to three million years,” said Simms, folding his arms across
his chest, “what culture would do that? How have they existed for such a long
period of time?”

“They may be
so alien we can’t understand them, particularly if they came from another universe,”
replied Kurt. “There’s not much anyone knows about them.”

“What do you
want us to do?” asked Hayworth, focusing his attention on the admiral.

Kurt took a
deep breath. “Get your engineers together and see what can be done to strengthen
the defenses around Newton. Find out if anything can increase the firepower of
our warships. For the moment, it seems as if the black ships are more
interested in the Enlightened Worlds than anyone else, so we may have time.”

All three of
them fell silent as they thought about the evil that might be in their future.
Just the fact they might be dealing with an alien civilization called the
Destroyers of Worlds was frightening enough. However, knowing the most powerful
ships in the galaxy had failed to stop them was even more appalling. If the
Protector Worlds couldn’t stop the black ships, then what chance did Newton have?

High Profiteer
Creed had taken his fleet to Kubitz. Repairs had been made at Marsten, but now
Creed wanted all his warships updated to the highest levels possible. He was a
little aggravated when he had been told it would be over a week before one of
the numerous orbiting shipyards could work his ships into its busy schedule.

“A full week
before even the first of our ships can enter one of the shipyards?” muttered
Second Profiteer Lantz in disbelief. “What’s going on with the shipyards? We’ve
never had to wait before!”

Creed stood,
gazing at the primary viewscreen, which was focused on one of the huge orbiting
shipyards. “I don’t know, but I intend to find out. I’ve never heard of all the
shipyards being this busy with new construction and ship updates before.”

“Could it have
something do with those secret meetings going on?”

“Possibly,”
Creed said, crossing his arms as he thought.

Over the past
few months leaders from most of the Profiteer planets as well as the largest
clans had been meeting secretly on Marsten. Creed had found out about this from
several sources he had on the planet. However, he hadn’t found out what was
going on and why the need for such secrecy. Now all the shipyards above Kubitz
were busy. Thinking about it, even the ones above Marsten had seemed busier
than usual.

This might
pose a problem as Creed wanted to increase the size of his Profiteer fleet.
Normally he operated six battlecruisers and sixteen escort cruisers along with
the cargo and detainee ships he maintained. In the last battle with Fleet
Admiral Vickers over Julbian, Creed had lost one battlecruiser, six escort
cruisers, six medium-size cargo ships, and two large ones. All of those losses
needed to be made up, and it would be quite costly.

“Do we have
the latest prices for new warships?” asked High Profiteer Creed, looking at
Third Profiteer Lukon, who had spoken with one of the primary weapons dealers
on Kubitz.

Lukon turned
his attention to Creed. “Yes, but it’s not good. Prices have been marked up by
nearly 20 percent. For all the upgrades you want, it’ll drive up the price almost
40 percent.”

“Forty
percent,” groaned Second Profiteer Lantz. “How can we afford that? We didn’t
make any credits off the Julbian debacle.”

Creed turned
to glare at Lantz. All he cared about was having plenty of credits to spend at
the pleasure houses on Kubitz. Lantz had a reputation as a wild spender,
wasting thousands of credits on exquisite food, entertainment, and, of course,
women.

“We’ll get the
credits back when we retake Earth,” Creed said pointedly. “There’ll be plenty
of credits for the pleasure houses.”

Walking back
to his command chair, the High Profiteer sat down, considering the number of
new ships he wanted to purchase. He was disgusted with the price increases, but
he didn’t see where he had any other choice. After he had been ambushed by
Vickers in the Julbian System, Creed realized he needed a larger and more
powerfully armed fleet. He had a feeling the Newton Humans would be a thorn in
his side for quite some time.

Lantz took a
deep breath and shifted his gaze from the viewscreen to the High Profiteer. “So,
how many ships are we ordering?”

“I want our
new fleet to consist of ten battlecruisers and twenty escort cruisers, all
updated to the latest specs. I also want to add some defensive weaponry to
handle the small attack craft the Humans are so prone to use.”

Lantz took
only a moment before he replied, “That’s five new battlecruisers and nine more escort
cruisers, plus new cargo ships as well.” Lantz’s eyes widened as he realized
the cost. “That’s nearly two hundred million credits!”

“I also want a
top-of-the-line battleship to serve as our new flagship. Vickers heavily
damaged the
Ascendant Destruction
, and it would be wise if we moved to a
larger and better armed vessel.”

“Good idea to
move to an updated battleship.” Then Lantz frowned. “A first-line battleship,
fully updated, will run about twenty-five million credits.”

High Profiteer
Creed nodded his acceptance of the costs. “That’s over half of our credit
reserves for our new fleet. Once our attack on Earth is finished, we’ll replace
the credits spent for upgrading the fleet plus a lot more.”

Lantz nodded
his acceptance. “I hope you’re right. We’ll have to find new crews for the
warships as well as the cargo ships.”

“We can find
them on Kubitz or even Marsten,” Creed responded dismissively. Turning toward Lukon,
he added, “Inform Toblan that I will get back with him shortly on the ship
order as well as the updates.”

Toblan was the
weapons dealer Creed was most familiar with and had done business with before. He
was pretty certain, with the size of the order he was placing, he could work
out a better price than what the weapons dealer had currently quoted. In all
business deals on Kubitz, the initial price was always much higher than what
the final settlement price would be. Creed knew that transferring a substantial
sum of credits to Toblan’s personal account would help in the negotiations too.

Once the
agreement was settled, it would take several months for his ship order to be
completed. In the meantime, he had various other Profiteer clans to meet with
as well as Dacroni Clan Leader Jarls. In order for his plan to work, Creed knew
he had to overwhelm Earth’s defenses quickly and then move in to plunder the
planet.

With a
conniving smile, Creed thought about the conspirators he had on Earth who would
help him. With their aid, Creed would know exactly where all the gold and other
valuable metals were hidden on the planet. If all went as planned, his fleet
would be in and out in seventy-six hours or less. By the time Fleet Admiral
Vickers heard Earth had been retaken, it would be too late for him to do
anything about it.

-

Several days
later Grantz was in the Haslen Pleasure House, enjoying an expensive meal
consisting of several of his favorite delicacies. As he ate, he saw the target
he sought. He had heard rumors of High Profiteer Creed’s second in command
coming to this particular pleasure house due to the opulent food and drinks it
served. If everything went as planned, he would garner some valuable information,
which just might result in more gold coins coming his way.

Grantz
finished his meal, stood up, and sauntered over to Second Profiteer Lantz’s
table. Lantz was eating with a gorgeous scantily clad woman, both laughing
loudly.

“I understand
they serve a drink here called the firebreath,” said Grantz, sitting down
across from Lantz. He motioned for a server and ordered two of the drinks as
Lantz looked with confusion at Grantz.

“And just who
are you?” asked Lantz suspiciously, sliding the woman off his lap.

“Third
Profiteer Blaxton,” answered Grantz, giving a false name. “I understand you’re
looking for some new crews?” Grantz knew this was a risky question.

The server
returned with the drinks, placing one in front of Lantz and then Grantz.

“Hey, how
about me?” the girl asked plaintively. “I love those drinks.”

“Not now,”
said Lantz, glancing at the girl. “Why don’t you disappear for a while? We have
an appointment for later.”

The girl
looked miffed and then nodded. “Don’t be late.”

Lantz watched
the girl saunter off, moving her hips. He shook his head, then turned to this
strange Profiteer. “How did you hear we might be looking for some new crews?”

Grantz sucked
in a deep breath. “Rumors. I heard several other Profiteers speaking about it
earlier. You’re with High Profiteer Creed. Isn’t that correct?”

“What’s it to
you?” asked Lantz, his eyes narrowing.

“I want to
join,” Grantz said with a grin. “I heard he’s made some big credits in the past
year or so, and I want in.”

Lantz eyed
Grantz carefully and then asked, “What’s your specialty?”

Grantz knew
what Lantz was thinking. After all, they were a lot alike. Lantz was thinking, if
he could find some well-qualified crewmembers for Creed, it would improve his
standing with the High Profiteer. There was also the possibility of working out
some side deals where new crewmembers recommended by Lantz would have to pay
him a percentage of their take for a significant period of time.

“Sensor
operator,” Grantz said easily. “None any better.”

Lantz was
silent for a moment, deep in thought.

In the background
loud music was playing, and on the small stage several women were dancing very provocatively.

All that Lantz
ignored. “Do you have any friends who might be interested in long-term work on
a Profiteer ship?”

Grantz leaned
forward, knowing he had Lantz within his grasp. “My former crew is out of work
at the moment. I can get hold of about sixty if the offer is decent. I believe
a deal could be worked out, giving you a small percentage of our take if you
can get us all hired. I may also know a few others who just might be interested.
How many crews do you need?”

Lantz licked
his lips, greed coloring his expression, which Grantz knew all about.

For the next
hour Lantz told Grantz about the new ships High Profiteer Creed had ordered and
the upgrades being made. When he finished, he looked at Grantz expectantly.

“Fully updated
Profiteer warships,” Grantz said, feigning excitement. “Your High Profiteer
must be planning a really big score.”

“The biggest,”
Lantz said with a nod. “I’m talking about gold, other precious metals, gems,
and women. The women from this world are beautiful and will bring the maximum
prices at the slave markets.”

Grantz
gestured and had the server bring another drink for Lantz. This would be his
fifth one, and, by now, Lantz should be feeling the effect. Grantz watched as
Lantz gulped down the drink. He was already swaying slightly just sitting in
his chair. Leaning forward, Grantz asked his next question. “Just where is this
world that contains all this treasure? I’ve never heard of such a place.”

Lantz laughed,
nearly falling from his chair. “High Profiteer Creed has been there before, and
so have I.”

“Where is
that?” Grantz asked softly.

Lantz’s eyes
seemed to clear slightly. “Earth,” he said drunkenly. “We’ll take a big fleet
to Earth and plunder the entire planet.”

Before Grantz
could ask another question, Lantz leaned forward and laid his head on the
table. Almost instantly he began snoring loudly. Satisfied with what he had
learned, Grantz stood up and gestured to their server. He handed her two
hundred credits, per their earlier arrangement to spike Lantz’s drinks. “Thanks
for your help.”

“What about
your friend?”

It wasn’t
uncommon for servers to be highly tipped when negotiations were going on. Grantz
grinned and handed the girl another one-hundred-credit note. “Let him sleep it
off. When he awakens, tell him Third Profiteer Blaxton will contact him later.”

Of course
Grantz had no intention of keeping that appointment. He had all the information
he needed, and now it was time for a meeting with Marvin Tenner. Fleet Admiral
Vickers had left some of the gold coins he had been flashing around with Tenner,
and Grantz wanted his just reward for the valuable information he had just
pumped out of Second Profiteer Lantz.

-

A few hours
later Marvin Tenner and Captain Briar were in Tenner’s office, listening to the
tale Grantz spun. Neither knew whether to believe what the greedy Profiteer said
or not.

“How do we
know what you’re telling us is the truth?” demanded Briar with a deep frown.
“After what Fleet Admiral Vickers did to High Profiteer Creed’s fleet at Earth—and
more recently in the Julbian System—Creed would be crazy to attack Earth again.
Fleet Admiral Tomalson has ten powerful warships, and he could probably hold
High Profiteer Creed at bay long enough for reinforcements to arrive from Newton.”

Grantz
stubbornly shook his head. “It won’t only be High Profiteer Creed. I got the
impression from Second Profiteer Lantz that this attack would involve a much
larger fleet than what Creed currently possesses. If I were to guess, he’s bringing
in other clans as well as more of the Marsten mercenaries. This will be a
snatch and grab. The fleet will destroy Fleet Admiral Tomalson’s ships, then
spread out and loot everything they can from Earth before Vickers can respond. Even
with the updates done to Fleet Admiral Vickers’s ships, it will be a good day
before they can travel to Earth once news of the attack reaches Newton. By then, High Profiteer Creed will have pillaged the planet and could either be
gone or in the process of leaving.”

Tenner shook
his head. He couldn’t risk ignoring what Grantz had told them. There was only
one way to find out for sure. Pressing the comm unit on his desk, he asked to
be put in contact with Avery Dolman. If anyone could confirm if Grantz’s
information was authentic, it would be Dolman. Tenner let out a deep sigh. No
doubt this information wouldn’t be free. It would be costly, but, if it were
true that High Profiteer Creed was preparing to attack Earth again, it would be
worth it.

-

A little later
Grantz was back in his quarters in the visitor’s wing of the main compound
building. He preferred staying here as it was quieter, and he could come and go
as he pleased. In his hand, he held five of the one-ounce gold coins Fleet
Admiral Vickers had left with Marvin Tenner. It hadn’t taken long for Avery
Dolman to confirm High Profiteer Creed’s fleet was in orbit, and Creed had
inquired about purchasing new warships. Dolman also confirmed Creed had met
with several other Profiteer clans to assist him in a big raid he had planned
that would bring huge riches to all involved. While Dolman couldn’t confirm
Earth was the target, all the rumors circulating on Kubitz pointed to that.