Read Online The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders by Raymond L. Weil - Free Book Online Page A

spending
some time on Newton and coming to know Kurt even better, Keera had decided to
make it her home. Now she and Kurt were living together, and she couldn’t be
happier. Not until she received the message from her brother did she realize
she still had unfinished business on Kubitz.
    Getting up
from the sofa, she removed her clothes and took a quick shower. After drying
off, she stood in front of the full-length mirror, gazing at her figure. She
had dark shoulder-length hair and a fair complexion with curves in all the
right places. She knew Kurt approved. She allowed herself to smile, thinking
about how passionate Kurt could be at times.
    Running her
hands over her flat stomach, she was pleased with the muscle tone of her body.
She worked out on a regular basis and was careful to eat as healthy as
possible. She still overindulged on occasion. Newton had a form of chocolate
she absolutely loved and a number of tea varieties she found nearly addictive.
She had mentioned to Kurt that several of the teas she had taken a liking to
would sell very well on Kubitz.
    Slipping into
a robe, she returned to the sofa and picked up the message she had left there, the
one from her brother. She read it one more time, sensing the fear in his words.
Something ominous stirred in the galaxy, and several of the Profiteer clans were
deeply concerned. A number of raids had even been canceled as they deemed parts
of the galaxy too dangerous to venture into. Dalen even hinted a number of
secret meetings had occurred on the planet Marsten, the capital of the Gothan
Empire.
    Keera leaned
back and closed her eyes. She let out a deep sigh. If the Profiteers were frightened
about this mysterious menace, she wondered what it might mean for Newton. She had grown to love her new adopted world. Life there was so much slower than
Kubitz. She could walk out in the streets without the need of an escort or a
handgun to protect herself. She hoped nothing ever changed that.
    Opening her
eyes, she looked one last time at her brother’s message. She had never known Dalen
to be afraid of anything. Just another reason he had gone to work for one of
the larger Profiteer Clans on Kubitz. He enjoyed the sense of danger and the
thrill that type of life offered. Keera had disapproved of Dalen’s decision,
but she had come to Kubitz nevertheless so she could practice her medical
skills on a myriad of different humanoid and alien races.
    Keera stood up,
deciding to go to bed. Sometime tomorrow they would arrive at Kubitz, and she
would get her answers. Unfortunately, in order to find out what was happening
in the galaxy, it might be necessary to contact Avery Dolman. She despised
Dolman as he had his hands in every despicable activity that occurred on
Kubitz. However, if something were going on, Dolman would know of it or how to
get the information.
    -
    The Star
Cross and her fleet dropped from hyperspace near the large Controller station
in the Kubitz System. The Controller station was forty kilometers in length and
ten in width. On its surface were a number of small habitable domes one to two
kilometers in diameter. The station was profoundly armed with ion cannons,
energy projectors, and hundreds of hyperspace missile tubes. In near orbit of
the station were twenty squadrons of small police ships, each two hundred
meters in length and heavily armed. They were responsible for ensuring the incoming
ships caused no problems.
    “We’re being
hailed,” reported Lieutenant Brenda Pierce. “They want to know who we are and for
us to state our business.”
    Kurt had been
expecting this. The computers on the station would have already identified his
ships as from Newton. “Tell them who we are and ask what the current fees are
to go into orbit around Kubitz.”
    All ships had
to pay a fee at the Controller station before being allowed to go farther into
the system. Failure to do so would result in an immediate attack by the
patrolling police ships or by the station