The Star Cross (9 page)

It didn’t take
long for the shuttle to unload its cargo, and then both detainee ships and the
cargo ship formed up with the Dacroni battleship, the Profiteer battlecruiser,
and the two light escorts going along for protection. While Creed wasn’t
worried about the humans attempting to intercept the small convoy, it wasn’t
totally unheard of for other Profiteers to ambush another competitor’s ships to
take its riches. Creed was making sure that didn’t happen.

“All ships are
ready to depart,” reported Third Profiteer Lukon from Communications. “Clan
Leader Jarls is waiting for your permission to send them on their way.”

“He wants to
see that cargo deposited in the holding accounts on Kubitz,” growled Second
Profiteer Lantz.

“It’s in the
contract,” Creed reminded his second in command. “There will be plenty for all
of us before this is over. Earth will make us very rich.”

Creed gazed at
the tactical screen for several moments at the seven green icons representing
the waiting convoy. Once word of this convoy reaching Kubitz got out, everyone
would know he had made a major find. Others might possibly even come looking
for Earth. Just another reason why he had replaced his lost ships and hired
Clan Leader Jarls. There would be no trespassing on his new territory.

“Inform Clan
Leader Jarls that the convoy may leave,” he ordered.

Moments later,
the convoy vanished into hyperspace. Creed allowed himself to smile; his first
booty from Earth was safely away. It would take the convoy twelve to fourteen
days to reach the open star cluster where the Gothan Empire and Kubitz were
located. Once the ships were unloaded, they would immediately return. This was
only the beginning of many such convoys.

-

Jarls watched
in satisfaction as the convoy left. He had already been paid one hundred
million credits for his fleet’s services, and, once the convoy reached Kubitz,
an additional eighty million would be paid to him as his share. This would be
the easiest money he had ever made. Already he was making plans to double the
size of his clan’s fleet. He might even buy a large estate back on Dacron Four.
He was interested in a prominent estate set back in a large mountain range
there. This contract would give him the credits to buy it and more. Jarls
folded his massive arms across his powerful chest. He was already planning on
pushing High Profiteer Creed to extend the contract for an additional ninety
days.

-

In Youngstown, Ohio, Corporal Donald Mercer watched angrily as six heavily armed aliens
escorted twelve humans into a small fenced-in enclosure within one of the city’s
public parks. From what the corporal could see, at least fifty people were already
inside the enclosure, sitting on the grass. They looked frightened and were
talking to each other in low voices. Corporal Mercer knew he had strict orders
not to interfere with the Profiteers, but his sister and her husband were two
of the people the aliens were now putting inside the enclosure.

“What are we
going to do?” asked Private Patricia Hatterson, standing next to him.

Donald
motioned for his squad to move out of sight into an alley. “I can’t let them
take my sister,” he said, knowing he was about to disobey orders. He looked at
the other eight men and women who were with him. “I can’t ask you to do the
same.”

“We’re with
you,” Hatterson said without hesitation. “If it were a member of my family who the
aliens had, I would do everything in my power to get them back.”

“No alien
shuttle on the ground,” another private pointed out. “When it returns, it will
probably take the people they’ve rounded up. So, whatever we do, it needs to be
soon.”

“My sister has
a three-year-old son, who’s staying at my parents,” Donald said in a quiet
voice. “I don’t want him raised without his mom and dad. If we do this, we have
to take out all the aliens and hide the bodies.”

Hatterson
moved to the edge of the alley and raised her rifle, gazing through its scope at
the aliens around the enclosure. “I count fourteen of them,” she said, as she
stepped back farther into the alley. “They’re all heavily armed and wearing
some type of light body armor.”

“We have armor-piercing
rounds,” commented another private. “They should penetrate the body armor.”

“We’ll have
the element of surprise,” one of the other privates pointed out. “We can do
this.”

“Very well,”
Donald said, reaching another decision. He felt his heart beating faster,
knowing what he was about to commit his squad to. “We’ll spread out around the
perimeter of the park. Everyone pick out a target, and, at my signal, you’ll
open fire. Once the first alien goes down, we have to take out the rest quickly,
before they can signal their shuttle or one of their spaceships in orbit.”

“A lot of
cover in the park,” Hatterson said. “Between the trees and the statues, we
should be able to get pretty close without detection.”

-

It took a few
minutes, but the nine determined soldiers quietly made their way to the
boundaries of the park, and then used the tall trees and park statues to
gradually move into firing range. The Profiteers seemed more interested in
looking at their captives and making comments to each other, as they pointed
out various humans.

Donald reached
the position he sought behind a pair of large trees, which concealed him from
the Profiteers. He waited a few more minutes, until he was satisfied the rest
of his squad had reached their firing positions. He took a deep steadying
breath, knowing what he was about to do could result in his court-martial and
end his military career.

Raising his
rifle, Donald took careful aim as he looked through his scope, until it was
centered on the chest of the nearest Profiteer. As soon as his shot was fired,
the others would follow suit. Donald took a deep breath and slowly squeezed the
trigger. A loud shot rang out, and he saw his target stumble back with a
startled look on his face. His light blue skin color suddenly turned white, as
he looked down at the spreading red stain on his chest; then he fell to the
ground.

Other soldiers
were firing now, and more of the aliens were taken out. From the enclosure, panicked
screams could be heard, as the captured humans dove for cover. However, now the
aliens were firing back. Bright blue beams of energy lashed out from the
Profiteers’ weapons.

Donald heard a
loud scream over to his right and saw one of his soldiers stumble from behind a
tree with a smoldering hole in his chest. The soldier looked over at Donald with
a frightened look on his face and then collapsed to the ground, not moving. An
energy beam struck one of the trees near Donald, blowing a large smoking hole
in the trunk. He winced and then resumed firing at the aliens. They needed to
end this quickly; he would mourn the dead later.

For another minute,
the firing was intense. The Profiteers were exposed with little cover, while
the soldiers were behind the trees and statues. The sound of heavy weapons fire
filled the air, along with the high-pitched humming sound made by the aliens’
energy weapons.

Private
Hatterson was under heavy fire from a Profiteer, who was kneeling and firing
energy burst after energy burst toward her position. Taking careful aim, Donald
fired two rounds into the alien’s chest, dropping him to the ground. Then the firing
died down and came to a stop. It suddenly became very quiet.

Stepping from
behind the trees, Donald jogged toward the park’s interior enclosure, his
assault rifle held at the ready in case any of the aliens had survived the
attack. Other soldiers appeared, quickly approaching the enclosure.

Private
Hatterson stopped at a Profiteer sitting on the ground, holding his shoulder. The
alien looked up at her with a scowl on his face. Without a moment’s hesitation,
she pulled the 9mm pistol from her holster and put a bullet in the alien’s
head. “No prisoners,” she said firmly. “Not after what they did to Chicago and Washington, DC.”

Donald nodded.
He agreed with her sentiment. “Let’s set these people free and get them away
from the park. Then we’ll come back and hide the bodies.” Looking around he saw
that three of his soldiers were missing. It didn’t take long to confirm they had
been killed in the brief battle.

Several of his
squad quickly opened the gate to the enclosure and ushered out the people. A
few had to be helped, as they had been wounded too.

“Donald!” his
sister screamed, as she saw who had rescued them. She rushed up, giving him a
quick hug, and then stepped back. “Where did you come from?”

“Don’t worry
about that for now,” he replied, as he looked at his sister and brother-in-law.
“Get to Mom and Dad’s, and stay there.”

“Is there
anything we can do to help?” his brother-in-law asked.

“Just get
these people as a far away as possible,” Donald said.

After a few minutes,
his sister and her husband were far down the street, leading away the other freed
human captives. Satisfied they were out of danger, Donald turned. It was time
to remove the dead bodies of the aliens and to hide what had happened here.

Donald heard a
vehicle engine and saw Private Hatterson drive up in a pickup truck.

“Where did you
find the keys to that?” he asked.

“I hot-wired
it,” she said with a grin. “Something I learned as a kid.”

“Let’s get
these bodies loaded up, and we’ll hide them where the other aliens won’t find
them,” Donald ordered. He wondered briefly what type of life Hatterson had had before
joining the military, if she knew how to hot-wire a vehicle. He was afraid to
even ask.

“We can’t hide
all the evidence of a battle being fought here,” one of the other privates
pointed out. “The Profiteers’ energy weapons left burn marks and spent shell
casings are everywhere.”

“We’ll police
the area as well as we can,” answered Donald, knowing the private was right.
“Maybe we can cause just enough doubt so they won’t be certain what happened
here.”

“Will you report
to command what we did?”

Donald let out
a deep breath. “Yes, I think I have to, just in case there are repercussions.”
It was just starting to set in that three of his soldiers had died in the
battle. He had been in command and he was responsible for their deaths.

An hour later
the park was clear. All that remained was an empty enclosure and a few smoldering
trees were Profiteer energy weapons had struck.

-

Several hours passed
and two Profiteer shuttles landed in the large parking area next to the park.
Twenty heavily armed profiteers swarmed out and moved carefully to the
enclosure. For twenty minutes, they searched, looking at the burn marks and
finding a few spent shell casings that the human soldiers had overlooked. They
also found several telling areas of blood on the ground. They took a few
samples and then returned to their shuttles, which promptly lifted off.

An hour later
the park suddenly exploded, as a powerful ion beam impacted the ground. Other
beams flashed down from space, destroying parked vehicles, buildings, and even
blasting deep holes in the city’s streets. For ten minutes, the deadly onslaught
continued before finally coming to a stop. When it ended, a ten-block area
around the park had been devastated. Bellowing fires raged everywhere, and
smoke rose to blot out the sun.

-

In orbit,
First Profiteer Creed looked at a large viewscreen, which showed the devastation
his ion beams had wrought. He had promised the humans he wouldn’t nuke any of
their larger cities, as long as they paid the monthly tribute. However, he had
never said anything about not using other weapons.

“That should
teach them a lesson,” Creed said, his ruthless gaze watching as the smoke from
his attack covered the stricken city.

“For now,” Second
Profiteer Lantz agreed. “However, there’ll probably be more incidents.”

“Then they’ll
pay the penalty each time,” Creed said, feeling no remorse at what he had done.
“We own this world now, not them.”

-

General Braid
stepped into President Mayfield’s office with a grim look on his face. “There’s
been an incident in Youngstown, Ohio.”

Mayfield knew
from the tone of the general’s voice that the news wasn’t good. “What’s happened?”

“A young
corporal and his soldiers attacked a compound where the Profiteers were holding
people for transport to their ships,” Braid began. “Evidently two of the
captives were his sister and brother-in-law. He killed the fourteen Profiteers
holding them and freed the prisoners. When the Profiteers learned what had
happened, they used some type of energy beam to level about ten city blocks. Casualties
are estimated to be around two to three thousand.”

President
Mayfield closed his eyes and shook his head. “This was bound to happen,” he
said, pained at the loss of so many civilian lives.

“At least they
didn’t destroy the entire city,” Braid said. “They could have, if they wanted
to.”

“What will you
do about the corporal?”

“He’s turned himself
in and accepted responsibility for his actions.”

“His sister,”
said Mayfield, thinking about the corporal’s actions. He wondered what he would
have done in the same situation. “Hold the corporal for a few days and then let
him go. I suspect this won’t be the last incident.”

General Braid
nodded and replied grimly, “No, it won’t.”

After the
general left, President Mayfield moaned and thought over what had happened. It
would be many long months before newly promoted Fleet Admiral Vickers could do
anything, possibly even years. Mayfield dreaded thinking about what could
happen to the people of Earth between now and the time Vickers returned.
Mayfield greatly feared that many more people would die before this was over.