“Yes,” Kurt replied. “Our embassy on the planet has already signed an agreement with the Julbian government allowing for the construction of several new construction bays on their shipyard. We’re going to modernize their fleet but they will not be given Glaymon technology. The shipyard additions will be based on Kubitz construction technology which Lomatz and his crews are familiar with. The cargo ships contain additional defensive platforms, both old ones and ten of the newer ones. One of the ships also contains dark matter missiles for the Julbian fleet once their missile tubes have been converted.” The dark matter warheads could destroy Vorn vessels.
“What about Sertez and Maldon?”
“We will update them once we’re finished with Julbian. We’re in the process of sending other ships to begin some of the updates, but we’ll need Lomatz’s construction ships to add the new construction bays to their shipyards.”
Kurt looked over at Colonel Simms. “What’s the current condition of the Limeira?” The Limeira was Mara’s diplomatic cruiser, which had the firepower of a battleship. It was of Lakiam construction but had been updated with some Glaymon technology when it arrived at Newton.
“Repairs are complete. The ship has been moved out of the repair bay and is in orbit around Newton.”
Kurt nodded. Mara had left to return to Lakiam on board a Lakiam cargo ship to report to Fleet Commodore Dreen about what had happened at the staging system. When Kurt had last spoken to her, she still had not fully recovered from witnessing the destruction of the Aurelia. He didn’t expect her back from Lakiam for several more weeks. Mara was a complication in his life, particularly since he had slept with her. At least Keera hadn’t thrown him out of the house when she found out. She only smiled and said she had expected it to occur. Her reaction still mystified Kurt as he knew what a woman from Earth or Newton would have done. However, Keera was from a different culture and their moral values and customs were slightly different than what Kurt was accustomed to.
Leaning back in his chair, Kurt continued. “We probably have six months before we have to worry about the return of the Vorn. During that time we need to do everything in our power to get all of our Alliance worlds ready.”
Susan looked at Kurt, her eyes showing some concern. “When are you going to pay the Glaymons a visit?”
“In a few more days,” Kurt answered. “We still have Glaymon disk ships in the system and close to Earth, so at least they’re still supporting us. I just need to go and apologize to Tasid for not telling him what I was planning and why I did it.”
They went over a few more details on some items Kurt wanted done as well as deciding what ships Rear Admiral White would be taking with her. Kurt wished Susan would agree to move her flag over to one of the battleships assigned to her fleet. The heavy battlecarrier Ranger, while a powerful ship, still didn’t measure up to the firepower a battleship.
When they were finished with their meeting, Kurt took a shuttle down to the surface. He had promised Keera he would be home early as she had a special meal she was preparing. Kurt knew better than to be late.
-
As Kurt pulled up to his house, he saw that Dalen and Meesa were there. This was a surprise as Keera hadn’t mentioned to him that the two were coming over. Getting out of his vehicle, he went inside to find all three of them sitting in the living room. Dalen was drinking coffee, Keera had a cup of tea, and Meesa was sipping on a glass of water. All three had happy, contented smiles on their faces though Dalen’s looked a little suspect.
“What’s going on?” asked Kurt as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down. He didn’t drink coffee often but occasionally he had the urge for it.
Keera grinned even wider. “It appears in seven more months you’re going to have a little niece or nephew.”
Kurt looked over at Meesa whose face was showing a slight blush.
“I’m pregnant.”
Kurt started laughing. Now he understood the forced smile on Dalen’s face. Dalen had always lived his life on the wild side even though Meesa had worked hard at calming him down. Now a baby would ensure that wild side stayed buried.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Kurt said. “I know you two were wanting to start a family.” They had mentioned it several times when they had been over at the house.
Dalen let out a deep sigh. “I’ve been designing us a new home. Not quite as large as yours, but big enough to handle a few children.”
“I want three,” said Meesa excitedly. “Two girls and one boy!”
Dalen frowned. “Maybe I need to make the house bigger.”
Keera laughed, her eyes twinkling. “I can’t wait to see Dalen carrying a baby around.”
“I’m not changing diapers,” said Dalen firmly, his eyes focusing on his wife.
“We’ll see,” replied Meesa, cocking her eyebrow. “Raising a family is going to take both of us.”
“I can’t wait to help spoil my niece or nephew,” declared Keera. She looked over at Meesa. “We need to design a nursery and start talking about decorations.” Then her eyes focused on Dalen. “Get that new house designed as soon as possible.”
Dalen nodded. It looked as if his life was getting ready to change again.
-
Dalen and Meesa stayed for another hour and then left to go to their apartment. Meesa had some suggestions for their new home and was anxious to have Dalen make the adjustments to his design. Dalen had agreed with a heavy sigh, no doubt thinking about the cost. It might mean more hours of overtime at the construction company he was part of. At least he had a well paying job.
-
After they left Kurt turned toward Keera. “What did you do today?”
“I spent most of the afternoon at the new medical center. We’re adding some additional Glaymon medical technology to what we already have. There was even a Glaymon medical specialist at the center showing us how it works.”
Kurt nodded. There was a lot of advanced technology showing up on Newton. Some of the technology came from Kubitz and a few other worlds and now from the Glaymons. “I need to go see Tasid in another few days.”
“You don’t think he’s perturbed at you because your fleet attacked the Vorn staging system?”
“Maybe a little,” Kurt admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “After what occurred on Mars I wanted to make the Vorn pay.”
“That was horrible,” said Keera, shaking her head. “Is Mars going to be repopulated?”
“Eventually,” answered Kurt. “We’re going to put a much stronger defense grid around it first.” The colonization of Mars was being done by the European Union along with Australia, the UK, and Japan. All were anxious to update the defenses and resume the colonization effort.
Keera was quiet for a few moments and then spoke. “Do you think the Vorn will come again?”
Kurt let out a deep breath. He didn’t want to worry Keera, but he also didn’t want to hide the truth. “Probably. We set back their timetable for harvesting our galaxy by destroying the staging system. We should have some time before they return.”
“But they don’t know where Newton is?” said Keera, folding her arms across her chest. “Maybe they won’t come here.”
“They know where Earth is and they would have tracked the ships going to and from the system. They must know there are other inhabited worlds nearby. When they return they will be looking for them. Eventually they’re going to find us.”
Keera nodded, realizing Kurt was right. “I’m sure you’ll think of a way to protect us.”
“We’re going to do our best.”
“I hope Mara comes back soon. I’m curious to hear how the tea and the popcorn we sent were received.”
The cargo ship Mara left on had been one from Lakiam. It had been loaded with numerous crates of various tea varieties as well as several types of popcorn Mara had thought the people of Lakiam would find intriguing.
Kurt still felt uncomfortable talking about Mara with Keera. “It will probably be a
few weeks yet before she returns.”
“I was sorry to hear about the Aurelia,” Keera continued. “I know several members of the crew had been with her for quite some time. I was glad you were there to help console her.”
“The Limeira has been repaired and will be ready for Mara when she returns,” Kurt said. He hoped Keera would change the subject. For the thousandth time he wished he would have turned Mara down.
“I’m sure she will be fine when she gets back.” Keera stood up. “I’m fixing a stew for supper. It should be ready in about an hour.”
“Sounds good,” Kurt said smiling. He enjoyed Keera’s cooking. She was already a good cook when she came to Newton. Kurt’s sister, Denise, had been showing Keera how to prepare some of Kurt’s favorite foods. It would be nice to eat a good meal and then have a relaxing evening at home with his wife.
-
Later, as they prepared for bed, Keera paused and looked seriously at Kurt. “You know someday I want children as well. I still can’t believe Meesa and Dalen are starting their family before we do.”
Kurt nodded. They had talked about this a bit. “As soon as this threat from the Vorn has been settled we can start a family.”
Keera grinned. She slid her nightgown off her shoulders, standing nude in front of Kurt. “At least we can practice.” She stepped into Kurt’s arms and they kissed deeply before ending up on the bed. Keera paused and looked playfully at Kurt. “Are there any new positions Mara taught you? I understand Lakiams are quite flexible.”
Kurt didn’t answer but pulled Keera closer. He knew one sure way to silence her. As they became lost in each other’s bodies, Kurt just hoped the Vorn could be dealt with or he would never see his future children. His worries about that vanished when Keera moaned happily as the two became lost in heated lovemaking.
-
Deep in intergalactic space was the Vorn home star system. It consisted of one hundred and sixteen massive habitats, each one over ten thousand kilometers in diameter. The habitats were covered with the same dark metal which covered the hulls of Vorn warships. The habitats orbited a small red dwarf star and there were no planets in the system. A number of these small long-lived stars had been located in this region of intergalactic space when the Vorn first arrived. Many of them had planets or asteroid fields in orbit. These had been pulverized and used to build the habitats the Vorn race lived in.
-
Inside the Conclave Habitat, where the Royal Court met and many of them lived, Prince Brollen listened in shock as a member of the Vorn military reported what had transpired in the staging system. An Intergalactic Transport ship had dropped out of hyperspace to find the system destroyed and been instructed by Prince Ortumad to return immediately to the Conclave Habitat and report.
All of the Collector ships and Intergalactic Transport ships in the system at the time of the attack were destroyed. Prince Ortumad also reports the loss of large numbers of cruisers and battleships.
Incompetence, sent Brollen, his rage evident in the thought. How could such a small fleet destroy so many of our ships? It seemed as if ever since they’d begun the harvest of Galaxy X241, they had been met with one disaster after another.
There were several vessels from food species 236 in the attacking fleet. They hit the planet with an unknown projectile weapon until it exploded. The explosion itself destroyed many of our vessels which were in orbit around the planet.
Prince Brollen thought for a long moment on what needed to be done. By now most of the harvesting fleets in the galaxy would be at a standstill with full cargo holds. Send all the Collector ships we have activated as well as the Intergalactic Transports to Galaxy X241 to collect the food pellets from the harvesting fleets. The harvest is to continue, but all fleets are to avoid contact with ships of food species 236, 111, and the Ancients. Order them to concentrate on the periphery of the galaxy until we can locate and establish another staging system.
It will be done, the military leader replied as he turned to leave.
One more thing, sent Prince Brollen. Prince Ortumad is to be deleted immediately. His usefulness to the Vorn has ended. Prince Ortumad was a loose end which needed to be taken care of.
As the military leader left Prince Brollen felt uneasy. There was no doubt the information leading to the attack on the staging system had come from the captured mothership, Scythe. Brollen wondered if Prince Lantoll had been captured as well. The frightening thing was if the enemy knew where the staging system was, they probably knew where the Vorn habitats were located as well. If knowledge of the capture of the Scythe were to get out, it could endanger his future plans. He had already taken steps to ensure all Vorn who were aware of the capture had suffered deletion. Only Prince Ortumad might suspect something was amiss. Now his deletion would erase that threat.
For the moment everything was at a standstill due to the unfortunate death of Queen Alithe. The Vorn were going through thirty days of mourning at which time a new queen would be chosen to lead. The mourning period would end in a few more days. Already Prince Brollen was setting the groundwork for his own ascension to power. While a new and younger queen would be chosen to take Queen Alithe’s place, Brollen intended to have himself named to a new position, High Prince. This post would be higher in rank than the Hive Queen and would give him complete control of the Vorn.
Once Prince Brollen was installed in this new rank, he would order the activation of all warships still in stasis in the habitats. He would then order an all out attack on Galaxy X241 as well as upon the food species which had caused them so much trouble. He would use the destruction of the staging system to further point out the need for the rank of High Prince to protect the Vorn from danger. However, he would have to take great care to ensure none of the Vorn ever found out he was the direct cause of that threat. If the secret of the Scythe were to get out Prince Brollen had no doubt it would result in his own immediate deletion.
Prince Brollen wondered if there was anything else he could possibly have overlooked. In a few more days he would be named High Prince and Prince Ortumad would be no more. It would begin his long reign as leader of the Vorn. Long live High Prince Brollen!
Chapter Three
Fleet Captain Lilith waited with anticipation as the Glaymon fleet neared the star system where Tasid and the others were building their new habitat. She knew he would be thrilled when he saw what she was bringing home. Looking over at the tactical display on her new flagship, she could see nearly five thousand green icons representing Glaymon vessels. This fleet was far larger and much more powerful than the one Fleet Captain Waelt fled with when he had left to fight the Vorn.
“We’re nearly there,” said Lilith, looking over at the tall Glaymon standing beside her.
Councilor Marshton nodded. “It will be good for us to reach our destination. As soon as possible I would like to meet with Tasid and Fleet Captain Waelt to determine what we need to do to assist in the war against the Vorn.”
“A few more hours,” confirmed Marcus, Lilith’s second in command. “I believe you will be pleased to see what Tasid has accomplished.”
Lilith had no doubt Fleet Captain Waelt would be excited to see the Glaymon battleships with her fleet. There were over a thousand of them! When she left he had hoped she would be able to return with more of the disk battlecruisers. She still found it hard to believe she had actual first class Glaymon battleships in her fleet. If the Vorn thought the firepower from a Glaymon battlecruiser was horrifying, wait until they fought one of the battleships! She smiled to herself. She could hardly wait to see Tasid and the fleet captain.
-
Tasid was a weapons specialist as well as an engineer. He had been chosen by the other Glaymons to direct the construction of the new habitat which was 140 kilometers in diameter. Already the outer hull was in place and work was beginning on the inside. Each day ships returned from the asteroids and small moons being mined with valuable cargoes of various metals needed in the construction.
“What are those?” he was confused. If the ships dropping out of hyperspace were a threat, they should have shown as red icons. Only Glaymon and Human ships would show up as green, and he knew Fleet Admiral Vickers didn’t have that many ships, nor did Fleet Captain Waelt.
“It’s Captain Lilith,” reported one of the Glaymons at the large communications console. “She says she’s brought a fleet from the Dyson Sphere to help in the war against the Vorn. They were running in stealth mode, and we were not scanning for ships using Glaymon stealth technology.”
Tasid frowned at this admission. He was on a colony ship and not a military one. He would issue an order that henceforth they would scan for ships using any type of stealth technology. There must also be something wrong with the sensors for showing so many inbound ships. Even if Captain Lilith had succeeded in her mission, he and Fleet Captain Waelt had expected only a few hundred to, at the most, a thousand of the 1,000-meter disk cruisers to be returning with her.
On one of the viewscreens, a massive Glaymon battleship appeared. Tasid had to sit down. He couldn’t believe what his eyes were seeing. Never in his wildest thoughts had he ever believed Captain Lilith would return with what was now showing up on the sensors. A Glaymon battleship was 2,000 meters in width and 400 meters thick. It was designed specifically to fight the Vorn. The battleships were the most powerful ships the Glaymons possessed.
“Is that a battleship?” he asked, wanting to make sure everyone else was seeing the same thing he was.
“Yes, a battleship,” confirmed the Glaymon in front of the sensors. “There are a lot of them.”
“Anything else?” Tasid was finding it hard to breathe. How had Captain Lilith managed to return with all of these ships?
“We’re also detecting ten colony ships and the mobile shipyard.”
The Star Cross: The Vorn! Page 3