The Star Cross: The Forever War

by Raymond L. Weil

  Lilith looked at Marshton for an explanation.

  “I’m afraid the enhanced Glaymons suspect something is going on. We’ve received a lot of inquiries over the last day. We’re speeding up the exodus, and we’ll be leaving the Dyson Sphere in a few more hours.”

  -

  It didn’t take long, and Lilith stepped through the hatch into her new Command Center. She froze, seeing Arleen standing upon the AI pedestal. “Arleen! How?”

  “I arranged to have her program crystal removed from your former ship,” Marshton replied with a pleased look on his face. “That was one of the questions the enhanced Glaymons had for us. They are demanding to know if we took it.”

  “Hello, Fleet Captain,” Arleen said in greeting. “The ship is fully functional, and we can depart upon your command.”

  “The crew?” asked Lilith, turning toward Marcus.

  “They’re all on board,” he replied. “Also a lot of family members are on the ship as well.”

  Lilith looked at Marshton for an explanation. A warship was no place for families.

  “Just temporarily,” he explained. “We’re taking as many of our people with us as possible to fight the Vorn.”

  “How many?” she asked. She knew Tasid had two colony ships and was building a large habitat. He would be thrilled to see more Aggressives who could help in the construction as well as to expand the population base.

  Marshton hesitated. “I’m not sure. It depends on how much room we have on the ships and if we have enough time to get everyone on board. We’re hoping to take over one million of our people with us.”

  Lilith’s eyes widened in shock. “Just how big of a fleet are we taking?”

  “As many ships as we can. It depends on how long we can keep the Dyson Sphere’s defenses offline.”

  Lilith faced Marshton. “What will you and Valan do?”

  Marshton took a deep breath. “I’m coming with you. Valan will stay behind to see if he can change the attitude of the enhanced Glaymons toward the war. We have enough support from some of the other habitation squares now to make a real debate in the council possible.”

  “Won’t the council be upset over this exodus?”

  “It’s what will encourage them to act,” Marshton replied. “With so many vessels actively involved in the war and over a million Aggressives leaving the Dyson Sphere, they must accept that it will only be a matter of time before the Vorn find them. When they do, it will be the end of their final solution they have planned for two million years from now. One way or another, they’ll have to fight the Vorn.”

  Lilith nodded. She had never expected to leave the Dyson Sphere at the head of a fleet. She took her place at the command station, sitting and looking at her fellow officers. “We have a fleet to organize and not a lot of time to do it. Marcus, when we exit the Dyson Sphere, coordinate with the other ship captains to set up a defensive perimeter around the civilian vessels. We must be far away from the sphere before the defenses come back online. Marshton, do you have any idea how long the defenses will be down?”

  “No, we’re hoping for at least twenty minutes. If we’re lucky, maybe thirty.”

  “Very well, Marcus and Arleen, plan for twenty minutes. Once we reach that mark we need to be prepared to enter hyperspace.”

  Lilith leaned back in her command chair. This was going to be one exciting and interesting day.

  -

  Three hours later, in one of the primary control centers for the offensive and defensive weapons of the Dyson Sphere, one of the Glaymons on duty casually walked over and inserted a microdrive into the center’s main computer. He waited for a moment and then removed it, returning to his console. No one had noticed what he had done.

  The first hint that something was wrong was when the power abruptly failed, and the emergency power came on.

  “The defense grid has gone down,” reported one of the Glaymons, in shock, sitting in front of one of the other consoles. “The grid is down on over half the Dyson Sphere.”

  “Get it back up,” ordered the officer in charge, stepping over to see if he could find what was wrong.

  “We’re getting reports from other control centers of the same problem. It’s some type of computer failure, and it’s having a cascading effect on the systems. We’ll have to reload the weapons software.”

  “How long will that take?” asked the commanding officer with a deep frown. Nothing like this had ever happened before. The backups should have kicked in, but they had failed to do so.

  “Twenty to twenty-five minutes,” the Glaymon sitting in front of the console replied.

  The Glaymon who had inserted the computer drive smiled to himself. So far, so good.

  -

  “Defenses are down!” Marshton reported as he received a confirmation message over the small comm unit he always carried with him.

  “Take us out,” ordered Lilith, her eyes narrowing.

  “Space doors are opening,” reported Arleen. She was monitoring the entire bay. “Other ships are disconnecting from their moorings.”

  “Nearly every ship in this bay is going,” Marshton explained as he watched a large viewscreen. On it, other ships were moving away from their docking berths.

  “Take us out to one million kilometers,” ordered Lilith. “We will direct the exodus from there.” That was still inside weapons range of the Dyson Sphere, but Lilith wanted to stay close enough in case any problems evolved with the other ships taking part in the exodus.

  -

  The disk-shaped battleship quickly exited the spacedock and took its position where it could direct the other ships, now exiting other docking bays across this side of the Dyson Sphere.

  Lilith’s eyes widened as hundreds of the two-thousand-meter battleships joined her ship. She couldn’t even count the number of one-thousand-meter battlecruisers exiting the bays.

  Then a number of very large vessels left the primary spacedock of the Aggressives. They were colony ships, ten of them.

  “Where did those come from? I thought we only had the two that left the Dyson Sphere with Fleet Captain Waelt.”

  Marshton shook his head. “No, there were others. They just weren’t complete. We’ve worked day and night getting them finished.”

  Another extremely large vessel left the bay; this one was nearly twice the size of the colony ships.

  “What is that?” It was by far the largest vessel Lilith had ever seen.

  “A mobile shipyard,” Marshton explained. “Built years ago in case we ever ventured out into the galaxy to fight the Vorn. We updated it, and it’s going with us.

  “I have the lead councilor on the comm,” reported the communications officer.

  “I’ll take it,” Marshton said as he changed his personal comm over to the lead councilor’s channel. “Councilor Lavin, it’s good of you to contact us.”

  “Marshton!” Lavin said with a trace of anger in his voice. “What do you think you’re doing? I demand you return to the Dyson Sphere with all the ships that have exited.”

  “No,” Marshton replied. “We’re going to do what the council should have done long ago. We’re going to fight the Vorn.”

  “You fool! All you’re doing is throwing your lives away and endangering the Dyson Sphere.”

  “Only if you continue to live in the false world you’ve created. Join us and fight the Vorn now. Let us stop this nonending carnage they inflict on so many galaxies. We have the power. Let’s use it!”

  “What have you done to our defenses?”

  “They will be up shortly,” Marshton replied. “Also, Lavin, things are going to change. Not all the habitats are willing to ignore the Vorn. You are in for some very interesting council meetings.” Marshton changed his comm channel to one where Valan could contact him. He had nothing more to say to Lead Councilor Lavin.

  -

  For twenty minutes the ships continued to exit the Dyson Sphere. The number of ships coming out slowed and finally came to a stop.<
br />
  “We need to go,” Marshton said. “Valan reports the defenses will be back online in the next five minutes.”

  “Marcus, Arleen, are we ready?”

  “As ready as we can be,” Marcus replied. “I’ve ordered all ships to activate their sensor-dampening fields so we won’t be detected when we exit the nebula. However, somewhere we need to stop and better organize this fleet.”

  Lilith nodded. “Very well, Arleen, take the fleet into hyperspace.”

  Moments later Lilith felt the battleship make the jump. On the main viewscreen, the Dyson Sphere vanished. Lilith wondered if she would ever see it again. “What’s the final ship count?”

  Arleen smiled. “I think you’ll be pleased. We have 1,112 battleships, 3,714 battlecruisers, 10 colony ships, 1 shipyard, and 260 supply ships.”

  Lilith felt her heart skip a beat. Wait until Fleet Captain Waelt saw what she was bringing home. He would be elated. It at least gave them a fighting chance against the Vorn until the council on the Dyson Sphere decided what they would do: fight the Vorn or let the galaxy die. If the Vorn thought the one-thousand-meter disk ships were powerful, wait until they encountered a Glaymon battleship. It should send them running.

  -

  Fleet Commodore Dreen read the battle assessment report from Zumwald. He felt great sadness at hearing of the death of Captain Callast.

  “They saved Zumwald, and the Vorn have left the sector,” Alborg said as he read over a copy of the same report Dreen had. “They took out forty-nine Vorn motherships and a lot of battleships and cruisers.”

  “Six thousand Vorn vessels if the report is right. However, Captain Latimeer lost over half of his ships. We now know the Vorn can destroy Glaymon warships.”

  “Captain Callast died a valiant death. His charge into that formation of Vorn battleships allowed Captain Latimeer to reach the motherships.”

  “He was an excellent officer and strategist. He’ll be missed.”

  “We need to promote someone to command his fleet. I’ll work up a list of recommendations.”

  “The fleet survivors will return shortly,” said Commodore Dreen, laying aside the report and looking at Alborg. “We lost a lot of ships and personnel to stop the Vorn at Zumwald.”

  “But we gained a new Lakiam Alliance member with a large fleet of warships. As soon as those ships are updated, they could be very useful in the fight against the Vorn.”

  Dreen looked thoughtful as he considered what lay ahead. “In a few more months, all the worlds of our Alliance will have updated their warships and installed the new defensive platforms around their planets.”

  “You’re thinking about going on the offense?”

  “I think we have to,” Dreen replied, frowning. “If not, a time will come when the Vorn will have harvested 80 percent of our galaxy. Then we’ll face an unstoppable force. We need to go out and meet them wherever they show up to harvest a world. They must learn that, with every world they harvest, there will be a price to pay.”

  Alborg nodded. “We’ll have to build more fleets, and the council won’t like that.”

  “The council will learn to accept this new reality. If we don’t pool all our resources into fighting the Vorn, then we will surely fail, and eventually Lakiam will fall victim to the Destroyers of Worlds.”

  Dreen was also curious how the scouting mission to the Vorn staging system was progressing. Captain Waelt had indicated the mission had already begun, though nothing had been heard back. He wondered if Mara had gone with the Humans from Newton on the mission. From speaking with her, he knew she was infatuated with Fleet Admiral Vickers. He grinned to himself, wondering how that would turn out. Mara was one who normally got what she wanted.

  With a deep sigh, he looked at Alborg. “I’ll contact Councilor Marl and ask him to call a special meeting of the council.”

  “Councilor Darmas will oppose any attempts to increase military spending,” warned Alborg.

  “Let him. We still have the confession from the fake military officer Darmas planted. Maybe it’s time I took a harder stance with the council. I sent a copy of the confession to Councilor Marl. I’ll see what recommendations he has for its use.”

  Alborg looked relieved. “It’s about time you straightened out the council. You have the full support of the military. Make sure they understand that as well.”

  Fleet Commodore Dreen knew Alborg was right. It was time for Lakiam to dedicate itself to destroying the Vorn. Dreen would have it no other way.

  -

  On Kubitz, Grantz was following one of his informants. Supposedly the Profiteer had informed High Profiteer Creed that Grantz was looking for him. The Profiteer went into one of the smaller pleasure houses, and Grantz did too.

  Watching, Grantz saw his informant take a seat in one of the entertainment areas, where live music played and scantily clad women danced. Grantz waited for several minutes until he was satisfied the Profiteer wasn’t meeting someone. Going into the entertainment area, Grantz sat across from the man.

  “I’ve been hearing some rumors,” Grantz said, seeing the shocked look on the Profiteer’s face.

  “I’ve done nothing,” the man stammered.

  “That’s not what I heard. I understand you have a way to contact High Profiteer Creed.”

  The Profiteer’s face turned pale. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “It doesn’t matter. However, you must understand one thing. I want you to tell me the next time Creed is coming to Kubitz. If you fail to do so, or I hear you warned him that I’m looking for him, I will send your head home to your family. Do you understand?”

  The Profiteer gulped and nodded. “I promise. You’ll be the first to find out.”

  “Make sure of that,” Grantz said as he stood. “Don’t disappoint me.” With that, Grantz turned and left. He still had two other informants he was going to give some additional encouragement to.

  If things continued to go as he wanted, soon he would be collecting that ten-million-credit reward. He had already decided to invest most of it in a pleasure house. Perhaps this time he could talk Captain Randson into joining him. The captain really should spice up his life, and Grantz knew just how to do that. Besides Captain Randson would make an excellent business partner.

  -

  Far out in intergalactic space, the intergalactic transport Prince Brollen traveled on arrived in the system containing the Vorn habitats. Soon afterward, he was contacted telepathically by one of the lessor Queens.

  I have sad news to report, she sent. Queen Alithe was killed when a power conduit overloaded in a corridor she was passing through.

  What are the other Queens saying? This Queen was one who had sworn allegiance to Prince Brollen.

  Several have voiced their opinion that you should be elevated to lead the Vorn. Many of the older Queens are opposed.

  This was as Brollen had expected. Arrangements had been made to remove some of the older Queens if necessary. However, for now, he was still the consort to Queen Alithe and had a say in what was going on in the habitats and particularly in the Conclave Habitat. Inform all the Queens and the Royal Court that I have returned. We will observe thirty days of mourning for Queen Alithe and then vote on a successor.

  It will be done, the young Queen responded.

  Prince Brollen took a deep breath. Everything was proceeding as planned. In thirty days there would be a vote of the Royal Court, and he would be named High Prince. Once that was done, he would give the order to activate the rest of the Vorn fleet. After all the ships had been updated and prepared for war, he would return to Galaxy X241 at the head of a fleet of over six hundred thousand vessels. With that size of a force, it would not take long to complete the harvest and allow him to return to the Conclave Habitat. There would be sufficient food to last hundreds of years, and he would mate with many young Queens. Brollen would become the greatest leader the Vorn had ever known.

  Epilogue

  On the return trip to
Newton, Kurt went over to the Limeira to speak with Mara. She was heartbroken over the loss of the Aurelia and its crew—some of whom she had known for years. However, she had been adamant in that she had made the correct decision in saving the Star Cross. “I have no regrets in what I did,” she had told Kurt. For the rest of the trip, Mara stayed on the Limeira and only spoke to Kurt a few times.

  -

  Finally the fleet arrived at Newton and the Star Cross was docked to Newton Station. Shortly it would be moved to one of the large repair bays. Kurt was still on board his flagship, preparing a report on what had transpired at the Vorn staging system. It had been a resounding victory, and one that should considerably set back the Vorn harvesting of the galaxy.

  “About ready to go over to Newton Station?” asked Andrew as he popped his head in the open hatch of Kurt’s quarters. Most of the crew had already left the ship, and only a few remained on board.

  “Almost done,” Kurt replied. “Captain Tolmass will return to Tasid and explain what we did. He will take my report with him as well.”

  Andrew came in and sat. “You don’t think Tasid will object to us attacking the staging system? After all, we did destroy an awful lot of Vorn warships, plus the transports and the Collector ships.”

  Kurt shook his head. “No, not after what we did to the staging system. With Mara blowing up the planet, it’s useless to them now.”

  “That was a good move on her part,” Andrew said, smiling. “I never would have thought of it.”

  “Aleea and several of Mara’s scientists worked out the details. I was as surprised as everyone else.”

  “So, what now?”

  “We’ve bought ourselves some time. We can expand our fleet and continue to emplace the new defensive platforms around our worlds. For once, I really think we may have a chance of defeating the Vorn—or at least driving them from our galaxy.”

  Kurt quickly finished his report and sent it over to Captain Tolmass, who was still on board his ship. “What are your plans when you get home?”