The Star Cross Read Free Page A

fifteen meters across in its hull and blasting a huge fragment off into
space. The ship seemed to stagger, as valuable systems inside were compromised
and ceased to function. Several secondary explosions rattled the ship, sending
waves of fire through shattered interior compartments and corridors.
    From the bow
of the Star Cross , the two heavy KEW cannons fired, sending a pair of large
armor-piercing rounds at 10 percent the speed of light toward the reeling enemy
cruiser. The rounds impacted the alien ship, tearing completely through it,
setting off additional explosions. The energy generated was like twin nuclear
explosions. With a brilliant flash, the battlecruiser blew, sending debris in
all directions.
    “Enemy battlecruiser
is down!” Lieutenant Brooks reported with elation, as the red threat icon
swelled up on her sensor screen and then vanished.
    “We caught
them before they could raise their shields!” uttered Captain Randson, his eyes
shining with a wolfish glint. “We surprised them, just like they did when they
attacked Earth.”
    “Switch to
secondary target,” ordered Kurt, as he intently watched the tactical screen,
seeing what success his other ships were having. They had to hit the enemy
quick and hard if they were to have any hope of victory.
    “The Hampton has downed a second enemy battlecruiser,” reported Brooks, as she saw
another red icon vanish from her screen.
    “ Vindication is jumping in!” added Captain Randson, seeing more green icons appear on the
tactical screen. “We caught them flatfooted!”
    -
    First
Profiteer Creed picked himself up from the deck, looking around the Command Center in anger. “What’s happening!” he demanded, as his gaze shifted to the ship’s
tactical screen. He could see numerous red threat icons appearing nearby. They
were appearing almost on top of his fleet!
    “It’s a human
fleet, and they’re attacking,” reported Second Profiteer Lantz breathlessly.
“We’ve already lost the Warriors Pride and the Addax . The enemy
is using a powerful particle beam weapon against us and kinetics.”
    “Particle
beams and kinetics!” roared Creed in disbelief, his eyes growing wide.
    He knew that,
for most warships, particle beams were impractical—as they required a
tremendous amount of energy and needed a long cool-down time between firings.
Most Gothan ships were armed with ion cannons, energy projectors, and missiles,
which were cheap and efficient. Kinetics were a thing of the past and had been
given up to be replaced by more modern weapons. No one used kinetics anymore!
    “One of the
new arrivals is a carrier of some kind,” Third Profiteer Bixt warned. “It’s
launching smaller warships toward us.”
    “We’ve lost
four of our escorts,” said Lantz, watching the ships drop off the tactical
screen. He groaned and murmured, “My profits … the pleasure houses …” Then he reported,
“All our ships have their shields up and are returning fire, but I fear we’ve
already lost too many. The Glimmer Fire is reporting heavy damage, and
they’re asking permission to withdraw.”
    The Glimmer
Fire was their only other remaining battlecruiser besides the Ascendant
Destruction . Creed looked at the viewscreen, which showed numerous
explosions in space. He could even see the flash of a few beam weapons. “Order all
ships to jump!” he grated out, knowing that he had no other choice but to
withdraw or risk being destroyed.
    They were in
this for profits, not to lose expensive warships! He would return to Kubitz and
come back with a much more powerful fleet. This planet was too rich to allow a
single human fleet to keep him from it. The humans could have the planet for
now, but, in time, he and his much larger force would retake it. He would also
have to intercept the detainee and cargo ships on their way here and have them
return to the Kubitz System.
    -
    “We’ve taken
out two more of their light units,” Captain Randson added, watching as a