The Star Cross (25 page)

“Jarls will be
displeased,” warned Lantz.

“He’ll be
compensated for his losses,” growled Creed, turning toward Lantz. “Now get us
out of here. We’ve already lost enough credits as it is.”

-

“Admiral,
they’re pulling out!” screamed Lieutenant Brooks, her eyes lighting up with
relief.

“Calm down, Lieutenant,”
Kurt ordered, though he felt the same way.

“It’s
confirmed, sir,” Andrew reported, as he listened to the reports coming in from
the other ships. “The enemy is breaking off combat and turning away.”

“Let them go,”
Kurt ordered. “I don’t want to risk any more of our people or our ships. Have
our fighters and bombers follow them just out of weapons range, until the enemy
jumps into hyperspace.”

A few moments
later Kurt allowed himself to take a deep breath, as the red threat icons on
the tactical screen vanished one by one, until they were all gone.

“Enemy has
jumped and is on their way toward Earth,” reported Lieutenant Brooks in a
calmer voice. They were showing up on the hyperspace detection buoys, and their
course was easy to plot.

“We won,” said
Lieutenant Mays in a pleased voice.

“It’s over now
for Newton,” Kurt said, addressing the command crew. “But it might have just
gotten a lot worse for Earth.” Kurt knew that, with the failure of the attack
against Newton, the Profiteers would in all likelihood speed up their pillaging
of the home planet. “We also lost a few ships along with their brave crews.
They died to keep us free, and we should all remember that. A fleetwide memorial
service will be held later to honor their memory.”

Kurt’s
heartbeat returned to normal, and his breathing slowed down. In a few more weeks
the defense grid would arrive, and, shortly after that, his new warships should
be ready. It was nearly time to take the battle to the Profiteers and to make
them pay dearly for what they had done to Earth and the people living there.

“Take us back
to Newton,” Kurt ordered. “We need to get our battle damage repaired.”

“Yes, sir,”
Andrew replied, as he relayed orders.

Kurt would send
the
Vindication
back to the Kuiper Belt, where the
Newton Princess
was waiting. The first load of fleet crewmembers should be about ready. This
failed attack should have bought Newton the necessary time it needed. Kurt also
planned to let his crews have some leave time, even some for him to visit Newton and Keera. He didn’t know what it was, but he found something about the young doctor
extremely fascinating, and he wanted to further explore that relationship.

Several weeks
passed, and Kurt was at a small restaurant with Keera. They had gone out
several times now, and each time Kurt became more at ease in the young woman’s
company.

“What is this
called?” Keera asked, as she used her fork to spear several pieces of food on
her plate.

“Fried okra,”
Kurt answered with a smile. Keera had a way of making him forget all the pressure
he was under.

“You have a
number of foods here that are quite different from what I’m used to,” she said,
as she took a cautious bite. She smiled and took another. “I must learn how to
cook this!”

“My sister
could probably show you,” Kurt replied. “She’s a great cook.”

This
restaurant was one of Kurt’s favorites, as the food was excellent and the place
was not overly crowded. He disliked eateries where the crowd noise was so loud that
he couldn’t speak to whomever he was with.

Keera put her
fork down and looked seriously at Kurt. “You’ll be pleased to know that Private
Dulcet shows some positive signs of improvement. Her mom and dad have been
coming daily, and today they brought her younger brother. She said his name
without any prompting.”

“I’m glad to
hear that,” Kurt replied. He was still highly upset about what had been done to
her. “How are you adjusting to Newton?”

“It’s a
beautiful world. Every time I go out, I find something new and interesting. It
doesn’t have the crowds or the pollution that Kubitz has. Even my home world
seems crowded compared to here, and it had strict population controls.”

Kurt nodded
and cut another slice of the baked chicken on his plate. “When we have more
time, I’ll arrange for a shuttle, and we can take a tour of the entire planet. Newton has some really big mountains, as well as some beautiful and deep oceans.”

“I would like
that,” Keera said, her eyes focusing on Kurt. “Newton is so different from
Kubitz. It almost makes me regret my decision to remain there these last few
years.”

“What are the
other civilized worlds like?” asked Kurt curiously. “We’re familiar with Kubitz,
of course, but the others we’ve explored were empty of any type of intelligent
life.”

“The other
civilized worlds are unbelievable,” Keera said, her eyes taking on a dreamy
look. “Some cities float in the air, using antigravity. On a few of the older worlds,
the entire planet is one massive city. Even in space, there are colonies. Huge
constructs orbit planets where millions of beings live. Asteroids have been
hollowed out to provide living space, and huge space liners travel from world
to world.”

“Why do these
civilized worlds put up with the Gothan Empire?” With the technology Keera
described, they should easily subdue the Profiteer worlds.

“They’ve been
at peace for a very long time,” Keera explained. Some have recorded histories
that go back millions of years. The races in toward the galactic core are some
of the oldest. To them war is unknown, and violence is nearly unheard of. I
know of several worlds I’ve read about that don’t even have a police force.”

“What stops
the Gothan Empire from expanding and taking over those systems?” To Kurt it sounded
as if they were vulnerable to an attack.

“Not all civilized
worlds are so peaceful,” answered Keera. “Enough planets are protected by large
warfleets to keep the Gothan Empire and others like them at bay. For access to some
of the technology of the core worlds, they extend those worlds their
protection. Their ships are so advanced that the Gothan Empire wants no part of
them.”

“I see,” Kurt
said. “So the Gothan Empire, while it occasionally raids the ships of these
worlds, is careful not to become such a nuisance as to provoke any type of retaliation.”

“Precisely,” Keera
said with a nod. “You saw the defenses around Kubitz. A number of other worlds
in the Gothan Empire have similar defenses, particularly Marsten, the capital.
While these civilized worlds could probably take out the Gothan Empire, it
wouldn’t come easily or without substantial losses. Much of the technology used
to defend Kubitz and Marsten has been stolen from some very advanced worlds.”

“You mentioned
there were other worlds like the Gothan Empire.”

“A few
scattered across the galaxy,” Keera responded, as she took another bite of her
fried okra. “For the most part they leave the more advanced worlds alone and
only trade among themselves. They occasionally wage small wars against one another
over valuable star systems they come into conflict over.”

“I may go to
Marsten someday,” Kurt said, thinking about what had been done to Private
Dulcet and to Earth.

An empire that
practices such depravity should be made to pay the consequences for such acts. However,
a punitive visit to Marsten was far in the future. He also wanted to learn more
about the defenses around Marsten and those at Kubitz. It might not be a bad
idea to put together an intelligence team and send them to Kubitz to study the
defenses.

“I would stay
away from Marsten,” cautioned Keera with a concerned look on her face. “No good
can come from going there.” She paused and took a sip of her tea. “I love this tea.
We have nothing like it on Kubitz.”

“It’s one of
our favorite drinks,” replied Kurt. “There are a number of different varieties
with unique tastes.” He could recall his mother making sun tea on the porch,
when he and Denise were much younger. Those times were so much simpler than
now.

“I want to try
them all,” announced Keera. Then in a more serious voice, she said, “Kurt,
please stay away from Marsten. Very few people who go there in anger ever
return.”

“That’s a long
time from now,” Kurt assured her. “Presently I have to worry about Newton and driving High Profiteer Creed from Earth.”

Those were his
highest priorities. Sometime in the next few weeks, the defense system for Newton should arrive. Once that system was installed and tested, this war would take a different
turn, as he planned to go on the offensive.

Keera nodded. “Your
sister has invited me to go shopping with her tomorrow, once I’m finished at
the medical center. While I’m here, I’ve been sharing with your doctors some of
the medical treatments we use. They’ve been very helpful and are highly interested
in what I have to show them. A number of devices and medicines for sale on
Kubitz would be so useful to your people.”

“Make a list,
and I’ll have Lieutenant Tenner look into it.”

Keera was so generous
with her time and her skills and her knowledge. She hadn’t indicated any desire
to return to Kubitz, and he hoped she didn’t for quite some time.

-

Captain Nathan
Aldrich waited nervously for the hatch to open on the Profiteer shuttle, which
sat on the runway of the airport. With him was a full squad of Marines, guarding
the two armored vehicles, each carrying eighty bars of gold. This was the second
tribute payment at the higher amount the Profiteers had demanded.

“We shouldn’t
be giving them this gold,” muttered Corporal Lasher. “We may need it ourselves
someday.”

Nathan didn’t
answer, as he looked around the perimeter of the airport. Like all airports it
had been shut down since the invasion, and only a few planes left occasionally
and then only by permission of the Profiteers. For the most part the airport
was empty with very few people moving about. Only a few maintenance and
security people were present, and they were keeping their distance from the
shuttle. Nathan thought he could see a few people in the control tower,
watching the proceedings from its large windows.

“Did you see
how the people looked at us, as we drove through the city?” asked Private
Malone, cradling his assault rifle in his arms. “There was hate in their eyes,
because we’re the military and haven’t done anything!”

“Look, the
hatch is opening,” said Corporal Lasher, gesturing toward the shuttle.

The large
hatch opened, and a ramp extended until it touched the tarmac. A moment later,
half a dozen heavily armed Profiteers emerged and walked to the waiting Marines.

“I have your
gold.” Nathan spoke in a calm and measured voice to the one who appeared to be
the leader.

“Open the
trucks,” demanded the Profiteer. “I want to see our gold.”

Kurt gestured
to his Marines, and the large doors were swung open.

The lead Profiteer
then checked each truck, quickly inspecting the gold and counting the bars. As
always another group of Profiteers brought antigravity sleds to load the gold
and take it to their shuttle.

The Profiteer returned
to Nathan with a contemptuous gaze. “Next month the tribute will be three
hundred bars of gold and fifty thousand carats of gemstones.”

“What!”
uttered Nathan in a stunned voice. “We agreed upon eighty to begin with, and
then you increased it to 160. We may not have that many bars of gold left, and
I’m not certain about the gems.”

“You will
deliver the gold here and the gemstones, or you will lose a major city,” the
Profiteer said coldly. “The tribute must and will be paid. This planet is no
longer yours. It is ours!” The Profiteer then returned to the waiting shuttle,
along with his five escorts.

“Let me shoot
him,” muttered Corporal Lasher in a low voice, as he clicked off the safety on
his assault rifle. “We could storm the shuttle and take it.”

“No,” replied Nathan,
wishing they could do as Lasher suggested. “We need to get word of this
increase to the government and see how they want to handle it.”

“What if we
can’t produce the gold and the gems?” asked Private Malone.

“We have four
weeks to figure it out,” Nathan said, as he watched the Profiteer shuttle take
off. “Let’s get these trucks moving and report back. They won’t like what we have
to say.”

-

High Profiteer
Creed stood in the large hold of the cargo ship
Zental
. Twelve pallets filled
the bay, holding gleaming yellow bars of gold, as well as numerous cases full
of precious gemstones.

“The humans
were not happy with our increase in the tribute,” Fourth Profiteer Cade
announced. “I thought one of the human soldiers would fire on us.”

“The North
American Union seems to be the one in control of the majority of the gold and
gemstones on the planet, or at least the others are following their lead. I
suspect they will pay the tribute.”

“I would
suggest we send down a heavily armed party and a number of shuttles to furnish
aerial coverage when we go to collect,” said Cade. “I’m not sure the next time
will be so peaceful.”

“I’ll have
Clan Leader Jarls provide support,” Creed replied.

He was still
irked at how much Jarls had demanded for the Profiteers’ failed attack on the
human colony world. It had been a very expensive attack with one Dacroni
battleship destroyed and four of his own escort cruisers. When this cargo ship left,
he would send orders for four new cruisers to replace the ones he had lost.
Reparations would have to be paid to the families of the dead crews, plus
bonuses to encourage crewmembers to sign up for the new ships.

“There is more
resistance each day to our Profiteers on the ground, seeking out this planet’s
riches,” commented Fourth Profiteer Cade. “It’s only a short matter of time
before the entire planet erupts in open revolt. It may be time for us to move
into their larger cities and sweep up any gold or other valuables that might be
stored in them.”

“I will summon
more detainee ships and additional cargo vessels,” Creed said. The ships would
be needed for what he planned on taking from Earth.  “It’s time we wrap up our
business with this world.” Even once they were gone, he planned on returning
and making occasional raids against the planet to take more captives to be sold
on Kubitz. If he handled things properly, Earth would be a source of income for
many years to come.

“We also need
more Profiteers to search the cities, if we want to finish this,” added Cade.
“We’re already stretched too thin.”

Creed shook
his head in dismay at the thought. More Profiteers would mean the profits from
this venture would have to be split more ways. However, he recognized the
wisdom of what Cade was saying. If he didn’t bring in more Profiteers, they
might never strip this world of its valuables before it became too tenuous to
hold. If he were forced to nuke too many cities, then the expense of extricating
the wealth from the planet would go up exponentially.

“I’ll add in
more Profiteers,” Creed promised. It would be simple enough to bring in four or
five hundred more at a low pay grade to find the gold and other items of
interest on Earth.

Cade nodded
his satisfaction and left the cargo hold.

High Profiteer
Creed sighed a deep breath of frustration. Every time he turned around, this
venture became more expensive. Walking to one of the crates filled with
gemstones, he reached down and filled his hand with diamonds, rubies, emeralds,
and other precious stones. After a moment he allowed them to fall back into the
crate. In just this room alone was enough wealth to pay for this entire venture
a hundred times over. Turning, he left the cargo hold, sealing the hatch behind
him.

-

President
Mayfield sat once more in the situation room, listening to defensive
coordinator Colonel Stidham brief him and the others on Captain Nathan Aldrich’s
report.

“Three hundred
bars of gold and fifty thousand carats of gemstones!” Mayfield echoed, as he
heard the numbers from the colonel. His eyes bulged and showed growing anger.
“If we pay that next month, then what will they want next time? A thousand bars
of gold?”

“It’s possible,”
replied General Braid with a deep frown. “We can make the payment, but it’s as
you suggested. If we do, they’ll doubtlessly raise it again. They’re becoming
more aggressive across the planet. There are unconfirmed reports that a number
of civilians have been killed in recent days, while resisting the Profiteers’
demands for admittance to their private homes to conduct searches.”