The Star Cross by Raymond L. Weil

smile, he turned
around, expecting to see Governor Spalding, holding his resignation in his
hand. Instead, two heavily armed Marines stood there with grim looks upon their
faces.
    “Marlen
Stroud, you are under arrest for subversion and treason.”
    Stroud’s face
turned pale at hearing those words. “What do you mean? Is this some joke?”
    “No, it’s no
joke. You came to Newton illegally, with no screening, even though ordered by
the government of the North American Union. Your authority isn’t recognized
here, and yet you demanded that the Newton government be turned over to you
without due process.”
    “I’m a Cabinet
member,” snarled Stroud, growing angry. “That’s all the authority I need!” How
dare these Marines threaten him. There must be some misunderstanding. He would
see to it that they were cleaning latrines before the day was over.
    “We are aware
of who you are,” the Marine sergeant replied in an uncompromising voice. His
right hand touched the pistol in the holster at his waist. “Are you coming peacefully,
or do we need to use force?”
    Marlen gazed
at the Marine sergeant, his blood pressure boiling, but seeing the hard and
cold look in the sergeant’s eyes took away any thoughts of resisting. These men
weren’t to be trifled with. “I’ll go with you,” he grated out. “But this isn’t
over. You don’t realize who you’re messing with.”
    “We do know,”
replied the sergeant. “But this is Newton, not Earth. You have no power or
authority here.”
    The two Marines
led the angry Cabinet member from the governor’s office and down the hall to a
waiting elevator. They had orders to take him to a small residence on the
outskirts of the city and to keep him there under house arrest. His wife, their
servants, and his supporters had already been rounded up and were unhappily waiting
for him.
    -
    Governor Spalding
stepped back into his office and sat down in the chair behind his desk. He
hoped they had done the right thing. If President Mayfield and the other
Cabinet members were dead, then Stroud was next in line for the presidency. It
that were true, then Stroud had every right to demand control of the
government. However, as far as they knew, President Mayfield was still alive,
along with the other Cabinet members. Until they knew otherwise, Stroud would
be kept under twenty-four-hour lockdown and surveillance. Spalding just hoped
nothing had happened to the president, or they could find themselves in a
sticky situation.
    -
    “It’s done,”
Captain Randson reported, as he stepped from Communications, where he had been in
constant touch with the senior Marine officer at the governor’s mansion down on
Newton, who had been responsible for sending the Marines to arrest Stroud. “You
have one very upset Cabinet member on your hands now.”
    Kurt nodded
and let out a deep sigh. Marlen Stroud was the least of his worries. He had to
get the Newton System prepared for war, as well as get the fleet ready for what
was ahead. “Schedule a meeting with Colonel Hayworth and the commanding officer
of Newton Station, Captain Simms.”
    “What are you
planning?”
    “I want all
our ships equipped with particle beam cannons, including the destroyers,” Kurt
explained. “I also want to discuss the possibility of arming the station. The
shipyard above Earth wasn’t armed, as the fleet was supposed to protect it. I
don’t want to make that same mistake here.”
    Andrew nodded,
as he thought over what Kurt wanted. “Once we get the construction bay and the
manufacturing section attached to the station, we’ll have a lot of hull space
to work with. Hell, we could make Newton Station more heavily armed than a
battlecruiser.”
    “Exactly,”
Kurt replied. He also needed to get in touch with his sister. He had made
arrangements for a modest home to be made available for them. Her family had
made it safely to Newton and should be settled in by now.
    -
    Several hours
later Kurt arrived on