The Star Cross: The Forever War

by Raymond L. Weil

  Unknown ships have jumped into the system, reported Military Commander Madoul. They are attacking the transport ships and the Collector ships.

  Ortumad’s gaze shifted to the tactical display. With dismay, he saw ships vanishing from the screen in growing numbers. Raise our shields. Return fire! This couldn’t be happening! Identify those ships! Ortumad wanted to know what food species would dare to attack the Vorn.

  Shields are coming up, and I’m ordering all battleships and cruisers to attack the unknowns, reported Madoul. The fleet is powering up weapons, and we’re beginning to engage.

  -

  Kurt blinked his eyes as a Zero-Point Energy round struck one of the intergalactic transport ships. At ten thousand meters in length, it was massive. Only the colony ships of the Glaymons were larger. The round struck the ship in the center, and instantly the entire vessel was encompassed in rampaging energy, which shredded the vessel into its component atoms. The glare was so bright it seemed as if a nova had erupted where the Vorn transport ship had been.

  “Vorn transport destroyed,” confirmed Lieutenant Brooks.

  “Two Collector ships and seven battleships as well,” added Andrew with a wide grin. “We caught them with their pants down!”

  “Our other ships are reporting equal success,” said Aleea as she monitored the battle with the ship’s sensors. “We are receiving some incoming weapons fire. Confirmed activation of Vorn energy shields on numerous warships.”

  “That was fast,” Andrew said, frowning and glancing at Kurt.

  “Thirty seconds in,” said Aleea. “Hyperdrive is charged.”

  -

  The Vorn fleet reeled from the unprecedented attack. Dark matter missiles struck Vorn vessels, annihilating them in massive blasts of energy. The ships weren’t damaged; they were blown apart—or, in most cases, simply vaporized from the sheer intensity of the heat of the explosions.

  A Vorn transport ship blew apart as a Zero-Point Energy round struck the stern. The entire rear half of the vessel vanished in the heat of the blast, and then a dark matter missile arrived, destroying the forward section.

  A Vorn Collector ship was in the process of raising its energy shield when two dark matter missiles arrived. The twin five-hundred-megaton explosions turned the ship into a cloud of glowing plasma, which quickly dissipated.

  Since the Vorn used telepathy, energy shields rapidly appeared around Vorn vessels. Weapons were powered up, and energy beams as well as antimatter missiles were now being fired at the attackers.

  -

  The Glaymon disk ships were in two separate formations, firing their dark matter missiles and powerful energy cannons. They had annihilated all the transport and Collector ships in their area and were now firing upon Vorn battleships and spindle-shaped cruisers. Their beams tore through screens, blasting ragged rents in the hulls of the Vorn ships, destroying them.

  Space around the disk ships was full of explosions and dying Vorn warships. The battle was quickly intensifying as more Vorn ships brought their weapons online.

  -

  Mara had talked Lieutenant Mays into assigning the Aurelia’s and the Limeira’s targets to other ships. She had a different one in mind. The scientists on her ship had told her of Aleea’s request to study an alternate scenario, which could have serious consequences for the Vorn. As a result, she was not firing on Vorn ships. Her two vessels were firing on the planet itself!

  -

  “One hundred percent kills on the Vorn intergalactic transport ships and the Collector ships,” Aleea reported elatedly. “However, our fleet is receiving increasingly heavy incoming weapons fire.”

  “That was a lot quicker than expected,” Andrew said worriedly as the Star Cross shuddered slightly from weapons fire impacting the energy screen.

  “Telepaths,” Lieutenant Mays explained as she fired the second wave of dark matter missiles from the Star Cross’s missile tubes. “They can communicate instantaneously. We were hoping their reaction time would be a little slower.”

  The ship shook violently as a number of antimatter missiles detonated against the energy shield.

  “Shield is holding at 86 percent,” reported Lieutenant Mays. “Incoming fire is increasing.”

  “Fifty seconds in,” said Aleea.

  “Admiral, the Aurelia and the Limeira are not targeting Vorn ships,” reported Lieutenant Brooks.

  Kurt looked confused. “What are they targeting?”

  “The planet,” answered Brooks, stunned. “They’re firing on the planet!”

  “Order all ships to stand by to jump out,” ordered Kurt as he looked at the AI. “Aleea, why are they targeting the planet?” He suspected Aleea probably knew.

  “I would suggest we jump out immediately,” Aleea replied. “I project they have a 97 percent chance of success from my latest readings.”

  “Battlecruiser Phoenix has just been destroyed,” Lieutenant Brooks reported. “Two Glaymon disk ships have just been lost.”

  “Inbound weapons fire is beginning to saturate our shield,” warned Lieutenant Mays as she watched the readings on the amount of energy the shield was deflecting. “It won’t last much longer.”

  “Battlecruiser Griffin has been lost,” reported Lieutenant Brooks.

  “Mara’s trying to destroy the planet, isn’t she?” asked Andrew, looking sharply at Aleea.

  “Yes,” the AI said. “A catastrophic explosion will follow if she succeeds.”

  “All ships jump immediately,” Kurt ordered over the ship-to-ship comm. He wished he had known about this before. Even as he spoke, the Star Cross shook as if struck by a giant fist.

  “Black antimatter beam strike to the aft section,” Aleea reported with concern in her voice. “We have a hole nearly sixty meters long in the hull. Numerous compartments are open to space. Shutting emergency bulkheads.” The ship shook again, and more alarms sounded. The damage control board lit up with red lights.

  “Jump us!” ordered Kurt, expecting the ship to be destroyed at any moment.

  “Hyperdrive failure,” reported Lieutenant Styles as he looked in alarm at his console. “That last strike must have damaged part of the drive system.”

  “Rerouting,” said Aleea, her face creased in concentration.

  “Kurt, the planet!” cried out Andrew, pointing toward the main viewscreen.

  -

  On the Limeira, they heard Kurt’s frantic order to jump, but they were nearly at their goal. Repeated strikes by Zero-Point Energy rounds and dark matter missiles had drilled a hole nearly to the planet’s core. The attack was so brutal, the planet began to break apart.

  “Contact!” called out the Lakiam sensor officer. “We have a clear shot at the planet’s metallic core.”

  “Fire!” ordered Mara as she watched the ship’s viewscreen intently.

  From both the Limeira and the Aurelia, a Zero-Point Energy round was fired into the heart of the planet. When they exploded, the massive force blew the planet’s core apart. Debris flew everywhere including toward the orbiting Vorn fleet. Debris the size of mountains or larger slammed into orbiting Vorn battleships and cruisers. It happened so quickly they couldn’t get out of the way.

  “Get us out of here,” ordered Mara, satisfied they had done what was necessary. They were far enough from the planet that the debris wasn’t a threat yet but soon would be.

  “Mara, the Star Cross seems to be dead in space,” reported the sensor officer.

  Mara’s gaze moved to the viewscreen, showing the flagship. Several jagged rents showed in her hull. “Move us to cover the Star Cross. We need to see what’s wrong.” Mara grew gravely concerned the ship might be too damaged to jump from the system.

  “Vorn battleships are closing.”

  “Put us between them and the Star Cross. See if you can get Admiral Vickers on the comm. They may have to evacuate.” Mara felt frantic as she saw the Vorn battleships firing on the flagship. She had to save Kurt! If she didn’t, Keera would never forgive her.
>
  -

  Kurt felt his ship scream in pain as another black antimatter beam tore through the weakening energy shield and struck the hull.

  “Shield is down to 47 percent,” Lieutenant Mays reported. “We’ve lost four missile tubes and two direct energy projectors.”

  “Vorn battleships are closing,” added Lieutenant Brooks with a frightened look on her face.

  “Aleea?” asked Kurt, looking at the AI.

  “Working on it,” she replied. “I need a few more minutes. The ship has taken a lot of damage.”

  “We don’t have a few more minutes,” said Lieutenant Mays as she saw the growing strain on the energy shield which was in danger of collapsing at any second.

  “Kurt, the Aurelia and the Limeira haven’t jumped. They’re moving between us and the Vorn battleships,” called out Andrew as he stared at a viewscreen in disbelief.

  “The rest of the fleet has jumped,” confirmed Lieutenant Brooks. “Mara succeeded in blowing up the planet. The debris from the planet took out a lot of Vorn ships. The debris field will reach us in three minutes.”

  “We have to be out of here by then,” Andrew said, looking at Aleea.

  She didn’t reply but kept on working.

  “I have Mara on the comm,” reported Lieutenant Pierce from Communications.

  “Mara, get out of here,” ordered Kurt. No need for all of them to die. Mara would get to Keera and tell her what happened. “Our hyperdrive is down, and I’m not sure we can repair it before those battleships destroy the ship.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Mara replied stubbornly. “My ships will keep the Vorn at bay while you repair your ship’s hyperdrive.”

  On the main viewscreen, both of the Lakiam ships were now under heavy fire. The Vorn battleships were hitting them with everything they had. Even as Kurt watched, an explosion shook the Aurelia, turning the ship nearly thirty degrees. However, the ship responded by using its dark matter missiles to take out two Vorn battleships. The Limeira was firing nonstop, using its kinetic energy cannon to fire Zero-Point Energy rounds and launching dark matter missiles as rapidly as they could be loaded into the tubes.

  “Thirty seconds more,” said Aleea as she worked frantically to reroute power and change subroutines to allow the hyperdrive to be activated.

  Another explosion shook the Aurelia, and its rate of weapons fire decreased. The Vorn seemed to sense the ship’s sudden weakness and switched all of their weapons fire toward the damaged Lakiam battlecruiser. In a blinding explosion, the Aurelia blew up, sending debris flying across space. A few pieces struck the Limeira’s energy shield but failed to penetrate.

  “Hyperdrive online,” reported Aleea with relief in her voice.

  “Mara, our hyperdrive is functional. We’re leaving.”

  “Right behind you,” Mara replied.

  Kurt knew she must be in shock from witnessing the Aurelia’s destruction. “Aleea, get us out of here.”

  -

  In space, both ships made the jump into hyperspace, leaving the ruins of the Vorn staging system behind. They had accomplished their mission, though it had been costly.

  -

  Prince Ortumad watched in frustration as the last of the attacking ships vanished into hyperspace. Can we track them?

  No, replied Military Commander Madoul. They are using a very advanced sensor-dampening field. There is no sign of them. We did identify two ships of food species 236 and forty ships of the ancient race. The other vessels were at the battle in food species 236’s home system, though it is not known where they came from.

  Ortumad looked at the ship’s tactical display. All of the intergalactic transports and the Collector ships had been destroyed. In addition, thousands of Vorn warships had been annihilated by the attacking fleet as well as the explosion of the planet. It was a disaster, one that could adversely affect the harvesting of Galaxy X241. New transports and Collector ships would have to be activated. That would take a while. As soon as the next intergalactic transport arrived, he would return to the Conclave Habitat and report the disaster. He knew there was a chance he would face deletion for his failure to defend the system. Losing so many transports and Collector ships would shake the Royal Court. This was the biggest disaster since the Vorn had fled their home galaxy.

  However, one thing Ortumad could not figure out. How had the attacking fleet known where to find the staging system, and how had they known which ships to attack first? When the enemy fleet jumped into the system, their first targets were the transports and the Collector ships. How had the attackers gotten that information?

  Such data was only in the computers of the transports, Collector ships, and the motherships. Since no transports or Collector ships had been destroyed inside Galaxy X241, that only left the motherships. Some had been destroyed in combat, and Ortumad would research each one to see if that might explain how the staging system had been found. He wondered if Prince Brollen might have hidden some vital information about the motherships he had lost under his command.

  -

  Kurt and the rest of the fleet were 117 light-years from the Vorn staging system. He had docked the Star Cross to the Construct One for repairs. They were far enough away from the Vorn that they should not be found, plus the entire fleet was still using their sensor-dampening fields.

  Kurt tried to contact Mara but was told she was not available. She had to be highly upset at losing the Aurelia. It had been her ship before she had switched over to the Limeira. He would give her some time and then speak with her. She had saved the Star Cross, but, once again, it had been costly.

  “How long will the repairs take?” Kurt asked. He didn’t want to stay in this region of space too long.

  “Four days until the ship is in good-enough condition to stay in hyperspace for a long period,” Aleea replied. “Some of the repairs will have to be done in a Newton spacedock. Some of our other ships will need some work as well before they are fit to return to Newton.”

  Kurt turned toward Andrew. “What did we lose?” Toward the end of the battle, the fleet took on a lot of damage.

  “Two battleships, five heavy battlecruisers, and four of Captain Tolmass’s disk ships.”

  “What did we manage to destroy of the Vorns’ fleet?”

  Andrew grinned. “All 48 of their intergalactic transport ships, all 78 of their Collector ships, 312 battleships, and over 3,200 of their cruisers. A lot of their cruisers were destroyed when the planet blew. I don’t think anyone was expecting that. It was brilliant.”

  Aleea turned and smiled. “Thank you.”

  “We need to get our battle damage repaired and return to Newton,” Kurt said. “We must inform Fleet Commodore Dreen of what we’ve done as well as Fleet Captain Waelt and Tasid. We may have bought us a reprieve in the war.”

  One they sorely needed. It would give Fleet Commodore Dreen time to solidify his Lakiam Alliance. The same for Earth and Newton and their small Alliance. More defensive platforms and more ships would be built. When the Vorn returned to the galaxy they would be ready.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Captain Lilith had been summoned to one of the spacedocks of the Aggressives. She hoped they would give her the new ship they had promised. Arriving at the spacedock, she found both Marshton and Valan waiting for her. She was surprised to see the two councilors. She had been expecting another fleet officer. Looking around the spacedock, she could see over one hundred of the one-thousand-meter disk ships which the Aggressives were allowed to have. Only the other Glaymons possessed the massive two-thousand-meter disk ships. Those had four times the firepower of the smaller ones.

  “Welcome, Captain,” Marshton said with a grin. “I’m here to take you to your new command ship.”

  “Command ship?” Lilith replied, confused.

  Valan nodded. “Yes, command ship. We have decided to promote you to the rank of fleet captain for the exodus.”

  “I don’t understand.” She had thought Valan and Marshton woul
d arrange for her to escape and for her return to Fleet Captain Waelt in another disk ship.

  “If you will step aboard the shuttle, we’ll go to your new command craft. I know you have questions. Just wait until we reach your new ship, and I’ll explain everything.” Marshton gestured toward the open hatch on a nearby shuttle.

  Lilith entered the shuttle and took her seat next to Marshton. The shuttle took off and flew along the center of the spacedock, being thirty kilometers long, ten wide, and eight high. Inside it were hundreds of the one-thousand-meter disk ships as well as other vessels of the Aggressives.

  The shuttle flew for several minutes before slowing and docking with another disk ship. However, this was not one of the smaller disk ships but one of the two-thousand-meter battleships of the enhanced Glaymons.

  Lilith gazed out the viewport in shock, and then she turned to find Marshton grinning. “Where did you get that?”

  “From one of our allies,” he replied. “Not all the enhanced Glaymons believe we should avoid this war with the Vorn. Valan and I have been working—ever since Fleet Admiral Vickers came to the Dyson Sphere—to get others to support his cause to fight the Vorn. A number have supported us from the very beginning, and, after your speech in front of the council, more have joined. Enough that we can take many of our ships and join Fleet Captain Waelt. We have also decided not to allow the Aggressive population to be reduced. Instead we’ll expand it. We are taking over eight more habitation squares.”

  “But how will we leave? The enhanced Glaymons will destroy any ship that leaves the Dyson Sphere.”

  “That’s where our allies come in. We now have enough that we can shut down the defenses for a short period of time. Time enough for us to escape.”

  Lilith didn’t know what to say. She was silent as the shuttle docked with her new ship. A few moments later she stood in the docking bay and was pleased to see Marcus, her second in command, waiting for her.

  “Look what we’ve got,” he said with a big smile. He gestured around the flight bay. “Let’s get to the Command Center. We don’t have a lot of time.”