The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders (20 page)

“Weapons range
in two minutes,” reported Sensor Operator Laylem.

“Locking on
targets,” reported Alborg from Tactical. “Do we use the dark matter missiles as
Tactical Officer Drume has suggested?”

Captain Dreen stared
at all the red threat icons on the tactical display. He felt a sinking
sensation in the pit of his stomach, seeing how badly outnumbered his fleet
was. “I want 40 percent of our fleet’s missiles targeted on the two motherships
and the rest on twenty of the spindle-shaped cruisers. Perhaps if we can damage
or destroy a number of their vessels in the initial exchange, they’ll
withdraw.” Dreen knew that was unlikely, but it was their only hope.

“Allocating
targets with the rest of the fleet,” answered Alborg as he sent targeting
information to the other ships.

“How many are
we facing?”

“The two
motherships and five hundred and seventeen spindle-shaped cruisers,” answered Sensor
Operator Laylem.

On the main
viewscreens, the images shifted to show more of the black ships. They looked
deadly and were advancing with a confidence that was disconcerting. Captain
Dreen knew the decisive moment was rapidly approaching. He had his fleet
assembled into five lines, forty ships wide, with a reserve of eighteen
directly behind the center of his formation.

“Dark matter
hypermissiles are ready to fire,” reported Alborg, looking back at the captain.
“This will be a coordinated strike from all ships.”

“What about
the Visth-automated patrol ships?” asked Sensor Operator Laylem. “A number of
them are nearby, with more arriving every minute.”

Captain Dreen
paused as he considered what could be done with the lightly armed ships. All
they had in the way of armaments were a pair of direct energy cannons.

“Weapons
range!” called out Laylem.

“Fire
hypermissiles!” ordered Dreen. He’d figure out what to do with the Visth patrol
ships later.

-

On the Lakiam
battlecruisers, small hatches slid open. In a blur of movement, the dark matter
hypermissiles seemed to vanish from their missile tubes as they transitioned
into hyperspace. From the 208 battlecruisers, nearly two thousand missiles
flashed from their tubes to slam into the powerful energy shields of the Vorn
ships. Huge five-hundred-megaton explosions of energy washed across the energy
screens of twenty Vorn cruisers and the two motherships. The Vorn screens had
been designed to withstand nuclear explosions, antimatter explosions, and every
type of energy weapon imaginable. However, the massive release of energy from
dark matter was unexpected.

Vorn energy
shields glowed brightly as they absorbed the tremendous quantities of energy.
The shields grew brighter and brighter, and then flickered. They had reached
their saturation point, and, in titanic blinding explosions, they collapsed,
releasing the energy they had absorbed. Glowing nova like explosions suddenly
appeared in the Vorn formation as all twenty spindle-shaped cruisers were
obliterated. The entire Vorn formation was lit up from the brilliance of the
explosions.

In the center
of the Vorn formation, dark matter explosions covered the energy shields of the
two motherships, obscuring them from view, but their shields had been designed
to withstand any conceivable onslaught. Even so, the shield on one of the large
ships struggled to stay intact. The shield glowed as bright as a sun with the
amount of energy it was absorbing. Some of that energy leaked through, striking
the black hull of the massive starship. Huge rifts were torn in the battle
armor, and large sections were left open to space. Several secondary explosions
rattled the Vorn mothership, causing the vessel to falter in its advance toward
the Visth homeworld.

-

On board the
Vorn Mothership
Reaper
, Prince Brollen recoiled in shock when twenty of
his indestructible cruisers exploded as their energy screens collapsed,
releasing incalculable amounts of energy and annihilating them instantly.

The Scythe
has suffered considerable damage to its outer hull
, Military Commander
Mardok reported uneasily. He wasn’t sure how Prince Brollen would receive this.
Military commanders had been deleted for reporting less upsetting information
than this in the past to Vorn princes.
Some secondary explosions have damaged
the vessel’s sublight drive. Repairs are underway
.

Prince Brollen
looked at the viewscreen, which showed the other mothership. He felt growing
anger and disbelief at the damage done to the vessel. It was  inconceivable that
a food species could inflict damage on one of the Vorns’ most valuable and
powerful ships!

What type
of missiles are those?
he demanded in a shrill thought directed at the
military commander. On the main viewscreens, the shattered and fiery remains of
twenty of his cruisers were visible.

The same as
they used on us once before
, Military Commander Mardok reported.
Only
this time they changed their tactics and concentrated their firepower on just a
few of our ships
.

Sensor
scans indicate dark matter in the warheads of the missiles
, one of the
scientists reported.
Yield is in the five-hundred-megaton range
.

Dark matter
,
thought Prince Brollen, his twin antennae standing straighter.
We’ve never
encountered such a weapon in previous harvests of this galaxy. This is a
worrisome development
.

All ships,
commence black antimatter bombardment of the defending fleet
, broadcast
Mardok. His order, transmitted telepathically, was received instantly. He would
destroy the enemy fleet before more Vorn vessels were lost.

-

Captain Latium watched with interest as he saw the successful attack launched by Captain Dreen.
“You were correct,” he said to Mal Drume at Tactical. “By concentrating our
dark matter hypermissiles on just a few targets, our battlecruisers overloaded
the enemy’s energy screens.”

“Captain,
enemy ships are launching their dark antimatter spheres at our cruisers,”
warned Besel Molk from his sensor console.

Latium shifted his attention to the large viewscreens on the front wall of the Command and Control Center, seeing what looked like black spheres of nothingness hurtling toward the
battlecruisers. Around the edges, small discharges of energy were evident. “Order
the cruisers to fall back to the defense grid. Our defense platforms can give
them covering fire with their dark matter missiles.” Latium had overall command
of the Lakiam forces in the Visth System, though he was allowing Captain Dreen
considerable latitude with the fleet.

“Sending the
order,” replied the communications officer.

Captain Latium watched tensely as the battlecruisers reacted to his order. Hundreds of black
antimatter energy spheres hurtled toward the Lakiam vessels. “Target ten of the
enemy ships, and fire enough missiles to bring down their shields and destroy
them.” Perhaps he could take some of the pressure off Captain Dreen’s ships
until they reached the defense grid.

“Twelve dark
matter missiles on each target should be sufficient,” Mal Drume responded. “I’m
directing ten of the defense platforms to fire their missiles.”

“Some of our
battlecruisers have been struck by the enemy fire,” pointed out Besel Molk.

On several of
the main viewscreens, black antimatter spheres slammed into the powerful energy
screens of Lakiam battlecruisers. The spheres seemed to flatten out and spread
across the screens, turning them dark. Other Lakiam battlecruisers turned and
fled back toward the defense grid and the hoped-for safety provided by the
powerful defense platforms.

“Thirty-two
battlecruisers have been hit by the dark antimatter spheres,” reported Besel Molk.

“Ships report
massive power losses,” the communications officer added.

“Send out all of
our tugs to tractor those battlecruisers beneath the defense grid,” ordered
Captain Latium. “Perhaps that will give them time to reinitiate their power
systems.”

“Too late,” Molk
said dejectedly. “The black ships are launching antimatter hypermissiles.”

Captain Latium turned toward the viewscreens, knowing he could do nothing to save the valuable
warships.

-

In space,
dozens of hypermissiles left the missile tubes of the black ships to strike the
unprotected hulls of the Lakiam battlecruisers. Brilliant fireballs of
antimatter destruction spread across the hapless ships as they were annihilated
ruthlessly from existence. In moments all thirty-two powerless battlecruisers
had been reduced to molten wreckage and wisps of glowing gas.

Even as the
warships died, the ten designated Class One Orbital Defense Platforms launched
their black matter hypermissiles. Microseconds after leaving the missile tubes,
they slammed into the ten black ships the Command and Control Center had designated as targets. Massive five-hundred-megaton explosions ravaged the enemy
ships’ energy screens, bloating them with energy. Then, in brilliant flashes of
light, the screens seemed to implode. In each location where a black ship’s
energy screen collapsed, a miniature nova appeared.

-

We’ve lost
ten more vessels, and the
enemy ships are retreating to the planet and
its orbital defenses
, Military Commander Mardok projected.
It was a
mistake to wait so long to harvest this galaxy once more. The added time has
allowed some of their races to develop weapons that are dangerous to our ships
.

Prince Brollen
was in agreement with Military Commander Mardok’s assessment. The Hive Queens
had hoped, by putting off the harvesting of Galaxy X241, the food species would
be more plentiful. Part of that plan had succeeded. The food species were much
more abundant, but they were also much more powerful and dangerous.

After we
harvest this world, we will send word back to the Conclave Habitat of the
danger of some of the food species in this galaxy. It may be necessary to
deploy more of our ships
.

Military Commander
Mardok nodded his agreement.
I have ordered our ships to close the range
with the planet’s orbital defenses. We will deploy our black antimatter energy
beams. They should make short work of the planet’s defenses
.

I leave the
battle up to you
, Prince Brollen replied. After all, that was what the
military leaders had been created for.

-

Captain Dreen
gripped the edges of his command chair as his flagship moved behind one of the
large defensive platforms. All his remaining ships were taking up positions
around and behind the platforms to aid in their defense and to increase the
amount of firepower available.

“We have a lot
of frantic messages being broadcasted from the surface of Visth Prime,” Sheera
announced as her comm console was nearly overloaded with anxious calls. “The
Visth want to know if we can hold back the black ships from the planet.”

Dreen took in
a deep breath. They had destroyed thirty of the black ships, but he knew they
didn’t have enough of the black matter hypermissiles to destroy the rest. They
might get fifteen or twenty more, but that would still leave over 460 of the
enemy, plus their two motherships.

“Do the
defense platforms and the Command and Control Station have the necessary
firepower when combined with our remaining fleet to stop the enemy?” asked
Dreen, looking at Alborg, who was in front of the large tactical console.

Alborg slowly shook his head. “We might get a few more of them, but force beams and direct
energy cannons won’t overload their enemy screens. Once we’ve used up all of
our dark matter hypermissiles, we’ll have to fall back to our antimatter ones.
I estimate it will take sixty of those missiles to overload the shields of the
black ships. If you add all our energy weapons, we could reduce that to maybe
forty concentrated hits, but it will have to be well-coordinated.”

Captain Dreen
ran some quick calculations in his head. Even at the most optimistic result,
too many of the black ships would be left when the battle was over. He and
Captain Latium could do nothing to save the Visth homeworld. “Do what you can,”
he ordered.

-

Prince Brollen
stood with his multifaceted eyes staring expectantly at two large viewscreens
directly in front of him. The fleet was rapidly nearing the orbital defenses
protecting the planet. This food species was probably feeling confident in
repelling them since destroying some of the Vorn ships. They were about to
learn not all the Vorns’ most deadly and destructive weapons had been revealed.

We’re in
weapons range
, Military Commander Mardok sent.
All ships, fire black
antimatter energy beams. Destroy the orbital defenses first and then the
defending battlecruisers. The planet they defend is a food world, and our Queens and our warriors need the nourishment it will provide
.

Prince Brollen
nodded his approval. Mardok was a fine military commander. That was one of the
reasons Brollen had chosen him for that role on board the
Reaper
.

-

From the black
ships, energy beams flashed out to strike the protective screens of the Orbital
Defense Platforms and the Command and Control Station. The beams were black and
ominous and reeked of deadly power. As the beams struck the platforms, their
energy screens suddenly flared as their power was drained, and then the beams
penetrated. In massive explosions, the large Orbital Defense Platforms began to
blow up.

-

Captain Latium felt the Command and Control Station rock violently as several of the black beams
penetrated the station’s energy shield. Alarms sounded, and red lights flashed.
On the damage control console, red lights glowed. On several viewscreens, he
saw defense platforms exploding in massive releases of energy, sending debris
careening across space.