The Star Cross (3 page)

“What!”
uttered Stroud, standing up and waving his fist at the fleet admiral. “We can’t
allow them to leave Earth orbit. They have to fight. It’s their duty!”

“Then they
will die, and where does that leave us?” asked Tomalson, his eyes narrowing
sharply. “With no fleet, we will be powerless against these Profiteers.”

“I agree with
the fleet admiral,” commented General Braid after a moment. “I understand the
military situation, and now isn’t the time to fight. We can’t ask Admiral Vickers
to sacrifice his fleet in a hopeless battle that leaves us defenseless before
the aliens. Vickers’s fleet is a valuable asset and must be preserved.”

“But the
Profiteers might not return,” protested Stroud, looking around at the others
for support. “Just having our fleet in orbit might be enough to keep them
away.”

“We managed to
intercept a lot of their communications, while they were in Earth orbit,” Secretary
of Homeland Security Raul Gutierrez said. “They were boasting to each other about
all the credits they would make from looting our world. They will be back, and
they’ll bring others with them. We’re too big a prize for them to give up on.”

“What else do
we know about these Profiteers?” asked Mayfield, looking intently at the secretary
of homeland security. The president had been briefed by Raul already, but he
wanted the entire Cabinet to hear what the man had to say.

“They come
from what they call the Gothan Empire,” responded Raul, taking a deep breath. “We
determined from the communication intercepts that it’s a loose federation of
nearly 120 star systems that routinely raid many of the civilized races of the
galaxy.”

“One hundred
and twenty star systems,” uttered Anne Roselin, shaking her head in amazement.
“Just a few weeks ago we were wondering if we were alone in the galaxy.”

“That
question’s been answered,” commented Mayfield dryly. “What else do we know
about them, Raul?”

“They do only
a limited amount of raiding against the more civilized worlds,” continued Raul.
“They don’t want to encourage any reprisals from the more powerful star
systems. However, they are constantly seeking out new worlds in what they
consider unexplored space. We just happened to be the latest one they found.”

“What do they
want?” asked Secretary of Energy Max Sallow.

“Rare
minerals, jewels, platinum, art, and, strangely enough, gold,” Raul replied.

“Gold!” echoed
Secretary of the Treasury Dwight Michaels. “Why gold? The platinum they are
asking for is more valuable, and our Moon is overflowing with it. Plus other
lesser-known minerals are even more valuable, like black opals from Australia, red diamonds from Brazil, the bixbite from Utah.”

“As hard as it
is to believe, the galaxy at large uses a form of money called
credits
,
and it’s based on the value of gold,” Raul said, his dark eyes focusing on
Dwight.

“Reports confirm
several thousand people being abducted and taken to some of the ships, which
left immediately after the original attack,” Mayfield said, looking at Raul
with raised eyebrows. “Any idea as to why they took those people?” He had tried
to downplay those rumors in his broadcast so as not to alarm the civilian
population.

“Yes,” Raul
answered, not looking too happy about what he was getting ready to say. “Evidently
there is a market for slaves on many of the worlds in the galaxy, including
some of the more civilized ones. The slaves are used for simple household jobs
and others for more dangerous work. It’s a very lucrative market.”

“Slaves!”
retorted Stroud with a deep frown. “Are you certain of that?”

“Yes,” Raul
replied with a slight nod of his head. “In one of the star systems of the
Gothan Empire is a planet called Kubitz, where the slaves are sold. The planet
also operates a huge black market. Supposedly nearly anything you can imagine
is for sale on this world.”

A moment of
silence prevailed. President Mayfield studied his trusted group of advisors. He
knew that several of them would like to see Admiral Vickers’s fleet stay in
orbit and defend the planet. However, to do so might doom Earth to be plundered
for generations by these Profiteers. Mayfield couldn’t allow this, not if there
was another option. This was one of those difficult decisions that had to be
made and would be highly unpopular, even with some of his Cabinet.

“We need to
look at what sites we can make secure from enemy detection,” he announced. “We
need to have elite military units ready to attack targets of opportunity once
the Profiteers return.”

“You’re sending
away the fleet,” croaked Marlen Stroud, his face turning livid. “You can’t do
that! I can’t believe you would leave our planet defenseless.”

“We have no
choice,” Mayfield answered in a firm voice. “That fleet’s the only hope we have
for a future.”

“Our remaining
fleet has to be preserved,” Tomalson said with General Braid nodding his head
in agreement.

Stroud leaned
back in his chair with his shoulders drooping. He looked at the president, then
sighed heavily. When his gaze fell on Fleet Admiral Tomalson and General Braid,
he just shrugged.

“Fleet Admiral
Tomalson, make immediate arrangements to get key people off Earth,” ordered
President Mayfield. “Get me a report as soon as possible of everything Admiral
Vickers might need to make his job easier. Now let’s discuss what other
measures to take before these Profiteers return.”

“Newton only has eight million people,” muttered Stroud, shaking his head. “What can eight
million people do against a star empire?”

“Give us
hope,” Mayfield answered without hesitation. “They can give our entire world
hope for a future.”

Stroud slowly shook
his head in dismay.

-

Denise had
just put Bryan to bed and returned to the kitchen to prepare coffee for her and
Alex. Something about the smell of hot coffee helped her to relax.

“Is he
asleep?” asked Alex, walking up behind Denise and putting his arms around her.
They had been married for eight years, and it had been the best time of his
life.

“Finally,”
Denise said, wriggling from Alex’s arms so she could pour both of them a cup of
coffee. “He’s so excited about the possibility of Kurt coming to see him.”

“Your brother
might not be able to,” replied Alex, reaching for his cup and taking a cautious
sip. “Maybe he can’t leave his ship with the crisis we’re currently in.”

“I know.”
Denise sighed, holding her cup with both hands, allowing it to cool. “This
entire situation with these aliens scares me. I don’t know what we’ll do if
they come back.”

“Claude said
some people were taken in a suburb on the eastern side of the city,” Alex informed
her. “He claims a handful of small ships came down, and the aliens rounded up several
hundred people, taking those people with them.”

“I’m sure
that’s just a rumor. Why would they be here in Houston?” Denise replied with a
slight shiver. “Why would they want any of our people? The president said it
was just a rumor.”

“Supposedly a
lot of people in this suburb work at the space complex. They took men, women,
and even children. I also don’t think the president’s telling us everything.
The rumor about the aliens abducting people really worries me.”

Before Denise
could say anything else, her cell rang. Phone service had been erratic the past
few weeks since the alien attack, and she looked at her phone in surprise. She
reached over to the counter and picked it up.

“Hello?” she
said hesitantly. Then her face brightened as she recognized the voice. “It’s
Kurt!” She listened for nearly a minute without saying anything, her face
taking on a very intense look. “Are you sure? When? What can we take? Just a
minute, let me tell Alex.” She looked over at Alex with a concerned and
troubled expression on her face.

“Kurt says we
need to evacuate.”

“Evacuate!”
uttered Alex, looking confused. “Where to?”

“Newton,” replied Denise in a soft voice. “He says the aliens will be back, and, when they come,
his fleet will probably have to withdraw. He’s in the process of making
arrangements to evacuate the families of the crews in his fleet as well as some
others.”

Alex looked
stunned as he considered this. “How soon?”

“In the next
day or two.”

It didn’t take
Alex long to decide. “Tell him we’ll be ready.”

If Kurt didn’t
feel they would be safe on Earth, then it implied that things were a lot worse
than they had been led to believe. It also sounded as if Kurt felt the aliens would
be in control of the planet for quite some time once they returned.

Denise spent
another few minutes speaking to Kurt and then turned off her phone, laying it
on the kitchen counter. “We can take some clothes and a few other essentials,”
she told Alex. “He says to pack light, as we can get what we’ll need at Newton.”

Alex let out a
deep breath. He looked around the kitchen. “What will happen to all we’re
leaving behind? Yeah, our house is modest, but it’s nearly paid for. And our
jobs. Good, well-paying jobs. But you and Bryan, your safety concerns me the
most. … And we should stay together as a family.”

He stroked
Denise’s hair. “We’ll tell Bryan that we’re going on vacation,” Alex said,
pursing his lips. “I suspect he’ll be excited at the idea of traveling in space
and flying to another planet.”

“What about
your parents?”

Alex looked at
Denise and then spoke. “Mom and Dad have a cabin up in the mountains. I’ll call
them and suggest they go there. It’s in a pretty isolated area, so they should
be safe. They’re friends with several neighbors up there, so they won’t be
completely alone.”

Denise looked
over at one of the kitchen walls covered with family photos. “It will be hard
to leave so many memories behind, but I’ll pack in the morning. Kurt said he
would send a shuttle to pick us up the day after tomorrow.”

She wondered
what pictures she should take and what life would be like on the new world.
When she woke up this morning, going into space never entered her mind; now
they were preparing to leave everything behind and go to Newton. She just hoped
they were making the right decision. However, she trusted her brother, and, if
he said they needed to leave, then that was what they would do.

Admiral Kurt
Vickers stood in Earth’s shipyard next to Fleet Admiral Tomalson. In the main
construction bay, the new 1,200-meter-long heavy battlecarrier
Kepler
was covered with framework. Flashes from numerous welders constantly lit up the
bay, as frantic workers attempted to finish welding the last few plates of hull
armor on the massive ship. Every available worker was inside and outside this
one vessel, bringing online as many systems as possible. The main cargo hatches
stood open with a constant flow of material and supplies passing through.
Officers and construction supervisors could be heard shouting orders and
instructions to the hundreds of people in the bay.

“Is she flight-ready?”
asked Kurt, turning to the older fleet admiral. The
Kepler
by herself
could almost double the firepower of his fleet.

“She will be
in seventy-two hours,” Tomalson answered with a nod. “We’re fortunate that the shipyard
crew was left unharmed. From what Colonel Hayworth told me, the Profiteers were
interested in having the
Kepler
completed for their own use. In the two
weeks the aliens were here, they kept a small security force on the shipyard
and kept the crew working on that ship.”

“What happened
to that security force?” asked Kurt, wondering if some of them had been
captured. They could be a treasure trove of valuable information.

“There were
twenty of them altogether,” Tomalson replied, his eyes narrowing sharply.
“Twelve of them were killed when the station crew realized your fleet had
returned and was attacking the Profiteer ships. The other eight, while banged
up pretty good, are in the brig, awaiting questioning.”

“What about
the
Kepler
?”

“She’s going
with you when you leave,” the fleet admiral answered. “Still needs a lot of inside
cosmetic work, but most of her weapons, the sublight drive, and the hyperdrive
are operational. We’ll fill the cargo holds and her two flight bays with most
of what’s needed to finish her. In addition, we’re loading two large cargo
ships with missiles and other munitions your fleet might need.”

“What about
her energy shield?” Kurt asked. Even from here, he could see a lot of the small
antennae like emitters that powered the shield were missing.

“Not
operational,” Tomalson admitted with a grimace. “Take the
Kepler
back to
Newton. The station there can finish the ship. Most of the shipyard’s crew
will be transferring to Newton as well to give you a trained force of ship-construction
people. We’re also in the process of bringing the rest of the
Kepler
’s
crew up from Earth. Only about half of them have been trained and have any
actual space experience.”

“Newbies,” grumbled
Kurt with a sigh. They would have to learn quickly if they were to fight a war.

“There are
also two light cruisers in the other bays,” Tomalson continued. “The
Dallas
and the
Birmingham
were being updated with new sensors and particle
cannons when the attack commenced. The majority of their crews were on leave,
and we’re in the process of recalling them. Colonel Hayworth feels he can have
both cruisers ready in four more days.”

“The
Kepler
and the two light cruisers will greatly enhance the fleet,” Kurt said, looking
over at the older admiral. “What about the bombers and the fighters?”

“Done,”
responded Tomalson, with a half-hearted smile. “Only problem is that most of
them are still in their assembly crates, and the pilots need a lot of
training.”

“What about
the fighters and bombers based on this shipyard?” Kurt knew there were two
fighter squadrons and one bomber squadron permanently assigned to the station.

“They’ll be
going with you also. We’ll cram them into the
Vindication
’s bay. Captain
Watkins won’t be able to launch anything until they’re unloaded. Of course that
will give you a group of well-trained pilots for those three squadrons.”

“They can help
train the newbies,” responded Kurt, thinking about how to get the new pilots up
to speed as rapidly as possible.

“We’ll also be
sending the fighter and bomber construction facilities along with you. We can have
everything disassembled in two weeks and loaded aboard four cargo ships.”

“Where will we
put them?” asked Kurt, recalling how the station above Newton was set up. It
was large, but there wasn’t much room to add anything else, let alone new
construction facilities.

“We’ll have to
enlarge Newton Station,” Tomalson answered. “We already have a team of
engineers designing a new addition. We’ll add a new construction bay, a large
manufacturing assembly area, and a new flight bay for fighters and bombers.
There were some discussions about disassembling part of this station and
shipping it to Newton. It would be the quickest and easiest way to get what we
need. We’re just not sure we’ll have the time to do it.”

“We would have
to dedicate a lot of cargo ships to move everything,” Kurt said, as he looked
around the massive bay.

“We have two
heavy tugs, equipped with hyperdrives, which could drag the sections along with
them,” Tomalson responded.

It was one of
the options they had been discussing and the easiest. All they would have to do
was basically carve up the shipyard into manageable pieces and allow the tugs
to haul them through hyperspace to Newton. Once at Newton, the sections could
be reassembled. They would need to decide on the tug idea in the next day or
two.

After
discussing a few other items, Kurt and Tomalson left the construction bay and
took a turbolift to the station’s Command Center. Going inside, they saw Colonel
Hayworth, who was in charge of ship construction, speaking animatedly to several
junior officers.

“Is there a
problem?” asked Tomalson. He could tell Hayworth was highly excited about
something.

“I just
learned we may have another ship we can recover,” responded Hayworth, turning
from the two officers, who quickly went back to their posts. “Lieutenant Haley informed
me that the light carrier
Dante
has been located and may be salvageable.”

“Where is
she?” Kurt asked with interest. If they could save her, it would augment his
force even more, allowing him to launch a powerful contingent of fighters and
bombers. The Dante had been crewed by fleet personnel from the UK.

“On the far
side of the planet,” Hayworth answered. “We should have a video feed coming in shortly.
I’ve dispatched a fleet tug to the area to see if it’s practical to bring the
ship to the shipyard.”

Tomalson
nodded. For the last twenty-four hours, they had been checking all the wrecks
in orbit to see if anything could be repaired or salvaged. Most of the ships
had been blown apart. Only a few had been found with the hulls relatively
intact but were so heavily damaged from internal explosions that even boarding
them had been considered too hazardous.

“Video feed is
coming in,” reported Ensign Paul Simmons from Communications. “I’m putting it
up on the main viewscreen
.”

Everyone
looked toward the screen as it flickered to life, and then an image of the
battered light carrier appeared. The ship had been hit by some heavy weapons
fire, as the hull was badly compromised in several areas.

“The tug captain
is reporting no indications of power from the ship,” Simmons added. “He’s also reporting
several airlocks are open.”

“Do you think
the aliens removed the crew?” asked Kurt, looking intently at the viewscreen. The
main airlock hatch stood wide open. He had been briefed earlier about the
possible abductions.

“Possibly,”
Tomalson responded with a heavy frown. “From reports we’ve received across the
planet, we know the Profiteers took several thousand people. They may have
taken this crew as well.”

“Where to?”

“We believe they’ll
be sold as slaves on a world called Kubitz,” Tomalson answered. “We picked up a
lot of their ship communications and managed to decipher their language pretty
quickly. The Profiteers didn’t seem too concerned about attempting to encrypt what
they were saying.”

This greatly
concerned Kurt. The last time he had checked, Captain Randson hadn’t been able
to locate his wife and daughter. Plus there were rumors that the aliens had
abducted people from the vicinity where Randson’s home was.

“Passenger
liners are preparing to depart,” reported Lieutenant Vargas.

Another screen
came to life, displaying four small space liners and two much larger superliners.
The small liners could carry five hundred people each while the superliners
could hold 2,200.

“The
destroyers
Titan
and
Phobos
will be escorting them from Earth and
back to Newton,” Kurt said.

The plans were
for the ships to stay long enough to unload and then return to pick up more
evacuees. Also two more small liners and one more superliner were in transit
from Newton with a destroyer escort. Denise, Alex, and Bryan were scheduled to ride
on one of those. Kurt would feel better once his sister and her family were
safely off Earth. He had sensed the fear in her voice when he had spoken to
her.

“The cargo
ships are still being loaded with supplies and should be ready shortly for their
first trip to Newton,” Tomalson added, as he watched the liners grow smaller on
the screen.

The two destroyers
join up with them, and Kurt knew they would shortly be activating their
hyperspace drives. A number of cargo ships were located on a dozen small
spaceports across the planet. They were rapidly being loaded with surplus supplies
and other items that Newton might need, once all trade with Earth was cut off.
Other cargo ships would be sent to Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

“How much time
do you think we have?” asked Colonel Hayworth, as the ships suddenly vanished
from the viewscreen, making their jumps into hyperspace.

“Ships have
successfully jumped,” confirmed Lieutenant Haley. She had a relieved look on
her face.

“It’s hard to
tell,” Tomalson replied, “since we’re uncertain where their planet is.”

Kurt studied
the viewscreen to see the tug move in closer to the
Dante
. He knew the
tug would latch onto the ship with magnetic grapples and then bring the ship
back to the shipyard to be further evaluated.

“The analysts
I’ve spoken to,” Tomalson added, “feel pretty certain that the Profiteers will
regroup at their home world and then return with a larger and better armed
fleet.”

“I wonder how
much bigger?” Kurt said with a frown.

He didn’t want
his ships to be caught in orbit like the Profiteers had done to the Earth
fleets to begin with. The only difference was, his ships were keeping their
energy screens up at low power as a precautionary measure and were staying at a
higher level of alert. It wouldn’t be so easy to catch his fleet unprepared, especially
now that they knew what was coming.

“We’ll know
more when we finish interrogating the prisoners,” Tomalson answered. “That will
start later today.”

Kurt nodded.
He needed to get back to the
Star Cross
and arrange for more munitions,
particularly missiles, to be transferred to all his ships. They hadn’t fired
any during the brief battle, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be needed
later.

-

Entering the Command Center of the
Star Cross
, Kurt saw Captain Randson sitting in his command
chair with a look of deep concern on his face.

“Still no luck
contacting Emily?”

“No,” Andrew
answered grimly. “I did manage to reach Emily’s parents, and they haven’t heard
from her either.”

“Here are the
latest status reports, as requested, sir,” Lieutenant Mays said, handing Kurt a
small computer pad. “It lists the current ammunition levels, plus supplies for
all the ships in the fleet.”

Kurt nodded.
“Make sure we requisition everything we might need for a long deployment.”

“Already
working on it, sir,” Mays replied, as she turned and went back to her console.

“There have
been rumors that these Profiteers abducted some people in the Houston area,” Andrew
continued with a hint of fear showing in his eyes. “Do you think it’s possible
that Emily and Alexis were taken?”

“Fleet Admiral
Tomalson is still working on getting more information about any missing humans,”
responded Kurt, knowing how concerned Andrew must be. “If these aliens did take
Emily and Alexis, I promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to get them
back.”

“Sir, the tug
is approaching with the
Dante
,” reported Lieutenant Lena Brooks.

“Put it up on
the screen.”

The
Dante
appeared with the tug’s magnetic grapples holding the ship.

“She’s been
hit hard,” pointed out Andrew. “It looks as if Engineering is open to space, as
well as the starboard munitions bunker. From the size of the hole, I would
guess there was a major explosion. See how the hull is peeled back, as if an
explosion occurred inside the ship?”

Kurt nodded in
agreement. The six-hundred-meter-long light carrier had been badly damaged.
They wouldn’t know if the ship could be repaired until the shipyard personnel
took a closer look. However, before that could happen, some technicians would
have to board it to ensure it was safe to bring into the shipyard.

“We can’t stay
at a high level of alert continuously,” Kurt said, looking over at Andrew. Ever
since their arrival, the fleet had been at Condition Two. “Have the
Vindication
and the light cruisers
Alton
,
Blair
, and
Sydney
stay at Condition
Two with energy shields at 50 percent. The rest of the fleet will go to
Condition Three, so the crews can get some rest. After twelve hours, we’ll switch,
and the carrier and the three cruisers can go to Condition Three while the rest
of us take their place at Condition Two.”