The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders (4 page)

“No,”
admitted Spalding with a guilty look. “Earth has no way to know how much we
spent of their reserves. I kept 10 percent of what remained, and I have no
intention of sending them an itemized list of what we spent.”

“That’s still
quite a bit,” answered Kurt, with narrowed eyes. “It should allow us to fund
the compound on Kubitz and continue to procure the things we need.”

“That’s not
all,” said Spalding, a grin crossing his face. “You recall those Profiteer
cargo ships you captured before the battle of Earth and during? We kept all the
gold and other precious metals on board those ships as well. We still have nearly
all that and should be okay in the immediate future, as long as we don’t go
overboard procuring any more expensive weapon systems.”

Kurt nodded,
surprised to hear just how much gold and other precious metals they still had.
“We also have a large credit balance with the Controllers on Kubitz. Don’t
forget we stored a lot of gold in the secret vault underneath our embassy
compound too.”

Spalding’s
grin grew wider. He had forgotten about that with everything else going on. “Have
you spoken to Marvin Tenner recently?”

“No,” Kurt
answered. “Not since the last time I went to Kubitz. How’s he doing?”

Marvin was a
former lieutenant who had been in charge of the First Contact team on the
Star
Cross
. He and a few others had volunteered to stay behind on Kubitz and
represent Newton’s interests. Over the past year, the embassy staff had been
substantially increased, as well as a full company of Marines assigned for
security. Kubitz could be a dangerous place for the inexperienced.

Spalding was
silent for a moment, and then, opening a drawer on his desk, he pulled out a
red folder. Laying it down, he opened it. “Two days ago the light cruiser
Concord
returned from Kubitz. The ship shouldn’t have returned for another two
weeks. Tenner is growing concerned about some rumors floating around the
planet.”

“What kind of
rumors?” asked Kurt. Rumors were always afloat on Kubitz. Yet he was also
concerned. By sending the light cruiser back early, Tenner had no more warships
above Kubitz to aid him if he needed it or had to evacuate.

Spalding’s
brows wrinkled in a deep frown. “There’s something going on in the more
civilized regions of the galaxy. Reports tell of attacks on the warships of the
Protector Worlds and entire populations going missing from some of the colonies
of several Enlightened Worlds.”

Kurt leaned
forward, his interest piqued. “Surely the Gothan Empire isn’t attacking the Enlightened
Worlds?” Kurt knew the more advanced worlds tended to ignore the Profiteers. However,
an outright attack could cause the Protector Worlds to band together and remove
the Gothan Empire as a threat. Kurt couldn’t imagine the Profiteers taking such
a risk.

“No,” replied
Spalding, glancing down at the report on his desk. “It’s someone else.”

“Who?” asked
Kurt. Just one super advanced warship from any of the higher civilizations
could take on Newton’s entire fleet with impunity. The highly advanced Protector
Worlds were responsible for the defense of the Enlightened Worlds of the
galaxy.

“That’s just
it,” Spalding replied, his eyes narrowing sharply. “No one seems to know.
Tenner’s tried to find out but keeps running into dead ends.”

“Or no one is
willing to pay enough for the information,” interjected Kurt knowingly. On
Kubitz everything was for sale for the right price. If the information was
there, it could be bought.

Spalding was
silent for a long moment, and then he spoke. “I think it’s time you paid Kubitz
another visit. Use Grantz—and even Avery Dolman, if necessary—to get to the
bottom of these rumors.”

“Why are you
so interested in this?” asked Kurt. The highly civilized worlds were far away
from Earth and Newton. He also hated the idea of dealing with Dolman. The man
was conniving and had his hands in nearly everything illegal on Kubitz.

Spalding
leaned forward and spoke in a quieter voice. “I received a message from
President Mayfield earlier in the week. Fleet Admiral Tomalson detected some
mysterious ships on the outskirts of the Solar System. When approached by Earth
fleet units, they fled into hyperspace, refusing to communicate.”

“You think
there may be a connection? It could be Profiteer ships, checking on Earth’s
defenses.”

“I think we
need to find out one way or the other,” answered Spalding. “While Newton is heavily defended with the defense grid and our fleet, Earth isn’t, and Mayfield
knows that.”

Kurt
understood Spalding’s concern. Earth was now protected by a minimal defensive
grid and a small group of warships purchased from the Kubitz shipyards. Four
battleships and six battlecruisers were all the ships currently under Earth’s
control. The ships had been updated at Newton Station before they were turned
over to Earth and Fleet Admiral Tomalson.

“Mayfield
tried to talk the other Cabinet members into leaving a major portion of the NAU
gold here, but the Cabinet blocked his request,” Spalding added. “They won’t
even approve expanding the defensive grid or buying more ships for Earth.”

“Who’s
blocking everything?”

“It’s Marlen
Stroud,” muttered Spalding unhappily.

Kurt rued the
day when Secretary of Labor Marlen Stroud had been returned to Earth. He was
supposed to stand trial for subversion and treason. He had bribed the Chinese
Conglomerate to get him, his family, his servants, and his faithful cronies to Newton when legal routes had otherwise hindered him. He had also attempted to take control
of the Newton government. Unfortunately he still had enough political connections
that several Cabinet members decided to side with him and allow Stroud to be
reinstated in his former position. Mayfield had asked for Stroud’s resignation,
but the secretary of labor had refused.

Due to the
events of the Profiteer occupation and the nuclear strikes, Mayfield was in a
significantly weakened position, and his popularity was way down. The next
election was in sixteen months, and Mayfield expected to lose. It was one of
the reasons so many skilled young people were emigrating to Newton. Behind the scenes,
both Mayfield and Fleet Admiral Tomalson were encouraging the emigration. They
greatly feared events on Earth could take a downward turn, depending upon who
the next president was. They wanted Newton able to stand on its own and to have
the resources and people necessary to do so.

“What about
the new construction equipment you mentioned before I took the fleet to
Julbian?”

“Check into
it. We have a lot of homes to build as well as new industries. I spoke to your
friend Malen Jelk, and she mentioned a number of different automated factories available
on Kubitz. The
Newton Princess
will accompany you, along with a special team
of business people who are familiar with what we need.”

Kurt nodded.
He was surprised that Spalding had talked to Keera, who was known as Malen to
Spalding. “We’ll leave in two days. I let the crews go on leave, and I still need
to take care of a few things.”

“What ships
will you take?”

Kurt thought
for a minute before he replied. “The
Star Cross
, the light carrier
Wasp
,
as well as two light cruisers. That should be sufficient to protect the
Newton
Princess
and encourage any Profiteers we run across to leave us alone.”
Kurt knew the
Newton Princess
would be a tempting target for the
Profiteers but not if the passenger liner was well protected. “What about the
negotiations with the Julbians?”

“Scheduled
for later this afternoon,” Spalding answered. “I spoke to their leader earlier,
and he seems quite amicable. I don’t see any problems with signing a trade
agreement, though laying out the groundwork for a future alliance might take a
little longer.”

“Hopefully
this is only the first of many. Do you want me at the meeting?”

Spalding
shook his head. “Meetings like this are best left to civilian authorities. If
something comes up that needs your expertise, I’ll get in contact with you.”

Kurt was glad
Governor Spalding felt confident enough to handle the negotiations.

“Enjoy your
time off. You deserve it.”

Kurt was
determined to form a large enough alliance so that, someday, they could
challenge the Gothan Empire and force them to stop their Profiteering. However,
that was a long ways in the future and might be nearly impossible. He recalled
how long the Barbary pirates had raided in the Mediterranean, and he was afraid
the Gothan Empire would be even more difficult to bring under control.

-

A few hours
later Kurt took a short ride to an apartment building and went upstairs to the
apartment he shared with Keera whenever he was on Newton. Stepping inside, he
was pleasantly surprised to see her sitting on the couch, waiting for him.

“I wondered
when you would show up,” she said reproachfully as she stood up and kissed him
on the lips. Keera had been trained in the medical field on one of the more
advanced worlds. She had then gone to Kubitz with her brother and taken a job
working in one of the larger medical centers.

Kurt stepped
back from Keera. Since meeting her on Kubitz, she had provided something that
had long been missing from his life. “I understand you’ve been giving more lectures.”

Keera grinned
and nodded her head. “Yes, I’ve been all over the planet, demonstrating modern
medical technology and treatments. I’ve put together another list of additional
equipment I need from Kubitz. It’s a rather long one.”

Kurt sighed.
Keera always desired more of the medical technology available on Kubitz and
many other worlds. However, the technology saved lives and was an easy sale
when he put in the requests to Governor Spalding.

“I’m leaving
for Kubitz in a few days,” admitted Kurt, knowing she would expect him to
return with her latest equipment requests. “Governor Spalding wants me to bring
back to Newton some better technology to help with our housing crisis. We can’t
build new homes fast enough for all the colonists coming in from Earth. I
understand you spoke to Governor Spalding the other day?”

“Yes, he was
curious about some of the medical technology as well as the factories used on
Kubitz.”

Kurt nodded.
“I’m escorting a team of businessmen on the
Newton Princess
to see about
these factories and some other items.”

Keera was silent
for a moment as a strange look passed over her face. “I received a message from
my brother when the
Concord
returned.”

Kurt’s eyes
widened. Keera’s older brother worked for one of the Profiteer clans on Kubitz
and was heavily involved in the black market. Keera very seldom heard from him,
as they weren’t on the best of terms.

“What did he
say?”

“He’s
frightened,” answered Keera, folding her arms across her chest and tilting her
head to one side. “He’s heard rumors of terrible space battles around some of
the colonies of the Enlightened Worlds. Strange black spacecraft are engaging
the warfleets of the Protector Worlds and leaving them powerless in space. He
fears it’s only a matter of time before these strangers show up in the Gothan
Empire and over Kubitz.”

Keera was
very familiar with these worlds, as she had spent some time on several of them.
The Protector Worlds were very advanced worlds, which maintained large space
fleets to keep the peace. Their primary responsibility was to protect the Enlightened
Worlds that had known peace for thousands and even tens of thousands of years.
Each Protector World was responsible for the well-being of up to one hundred Enlightened
Worlds.

Kurt didn’t
know what to say. This sounded like the threat Governor Spalding wanted him to
investigate. Maybe it was more than just rumors. “I wouldn’t worry about
Kubitz. That planet has the heaviest planetary defense I’ve ever seen. I don’t
think even one of the warships from a Protector World could penetrate it.”

Keera stared
at Kurt worriedly. “You don’t understand because you’ve never seen the warships
of some of the more highly developed worlds. They are much more powerful than
you can imagine. It’s why the Profiteer fleets give them a wide berth and never
attempt to engage them. When you go to Kubitz, I want to go to. I need to speak
to Dalen.”

Kurt didn’t
like the idea of her going back to Kubitz. Anytime he went to Kubitz, it could
turn dangerous. He was also curious about these warships Keera had spoken of. How
strange that both Tenner and Keera’s brother had mentioned them. It could still
be just a rumor, but it needed to be checked out. Perhaps when he got to Kubitz,
he would bite his tongue and speak to Avery Dolman. If the rumors of the black
ships were true, Dolman would know. Of course with Dolman, everything came with
a price.

Kurt would
also like to get more information on the warships of the advanced worlds. It
might give him an idea of what type of danger these mysterious black ships
represented if they did exist. His attention shifted back to Keera, still waiting
for an answer.

“Please,
Kurt, this is important. Even though Dalen and I don’t get along, he’s the only
family I have. I have to speak with him. From his message he sounds really
frightened.”

“Let me think
about it overnight, and I’ll let you know in the morning.”

Keera nodded.
“Kurt, this is important to me.” She stepped forward, taking his hand, tilting
her head, and gazing deeply into his eyes. “He’s my brother.”

Kurt let out
a deep sigh. When she looked at him like that, it was almost impossible to say
no. “I need to think about what you just told me. There’s so much I’m trying to
understand.”

“Your answers
lie on Kubitz. Everything can be found there,” she calmly reminded him.